Talk of the Past
by Happy Doodle
Summary: Ezra had the chance to talk to Ahsoka about the old Jedi Order and her past life. The young boy couldn't help but think: If only he could have a glimpse of the good old times when the light side of the force was at its prime. Little did he know his wish could be granted.
1. Chapter 1

' I swear that you are improving everytime I spar with you, good job! You will be able to duel properly after a while,' Kanan chuckled and began to stow away his lightsaber.

' Are you sure?' Ezra extinguished his lightsaber. ' I don't think I am ready to duel with anyone yet. Last time we duelled with the Inquisitor and the Sith lord, it didn't end that well.'

' At least you survived,' Kanan pointed out. ' Don't worry, you managed to have a couple locks with the opponent without dying, and that is one huge step to success. Though, I think you should start to think about what Form you wish to study.'

Ezra sighed. He had no idea. Kanan had mentioned that to him for countless of times, but he couldn't seem to find a good one for himself. Sure, he liked the idea of choosing Form III like Kanan, but he had doubts if he could actually succeed in mastering it.

Kanan seemed to notice Ezra's troubled face, and he laughed, ' Or you could even choose Jar'Kai, you know, the dual blade fighting technique if you can find yourself another lightsaber. Though only a few choose to use Jar'Kai.'

Dual blades? That sounded even harder.

Then, Ezra remembered. He had seen someone in possession of two blades before... Heck! Ahsoka Tano (aka Fulcrum) practiced Jar'Kai, as he could remember seeing two lightsabers dangling from her belt. What else would that be?

' Anyways, I'll leave you to think. I need to go to check up something with Zeb and Hera, you can go mooch around or take a rest,' Kanan patted the younger boy on his shoulder understandingly, walked back onto the ship.

Huh.

Ezra followed Kanan back onto the ship, and began to wander aimlessly around the ship. He had no plans for the night. Sure, he could go to Sabine's room and watch her paint her walls, but the smells from the spray cans always made him feel a little giddy and light-headed.

In the end, he found himself walking towards the cockpit of the ship, and to his surprise, he wasn't the only one. Ahsoka Tano was also sitting in the cockpit, seeming to be staring at the large glass window, deep at thought.

' Ummm, may I sit here?' Ezra spoke up.

' Sure,' Ahsoka popped out of her thinking bubble in surprise.

Ezra took a seat next to Ahsoka, apparently not sure what to talk about. Sure, he had burning curiosity to ask Ahsoka about herself. He had tried to engage Kanan in a conversation about that before, but well, Kanan wouldn't tell him.

 _Flashback_

 _' You said she was a Padawan like you during the old times, do you know her?'_

 _' She was the Padawan of one of the best war figures in the Clone Wars, and she was always involved in large scale, important missions. Sometimes I would walk past her in the Temple, but really, we don't know each other that well.'_

 _' How did she escape the Jedi purge though? I thought there were little survivors.'_

 _' Ezra. That is a really sensitive topic for all of us. Try... Not to ask her, because she may be equally as sad and emotional about the purge as I am. Even I took years to recover from the fact my Master and friends were murdered in cold blood.'_

But the atmosphere was really awkward, so Ezra blurted out, ' What colour are you lightsabers?'

' My lightsabers?' Ahsoka smiled at me. She unhooked one of hers and ignited it. To his surprise, the lightsaber flared up in a brilliant shade of silver (he had expected standard blue or green).

' They are silver!' Ezra exclaimed. ' I thought only blue and green existed!'

' Oh, they exist in a lot of colours. Blue, green, purple and yellow are the Jedi colours, while red is-'

' The Sith colour,' Ezra said. ' The Sith lord at Lothal had a red lightsaber.'

Her expression turned slightly sad, ' Yes. The Sith colour. I used to have a green lightsaber and a yellow shotosaber, but I lost them. Eventually, I built myself new ones, to symbolise that I am Force-sensitive, but I am neither Jedi or Sith. I like to stand out.'

At that moment, his curiosity was really weighing on him. Neither Jedi or Sith? ' Neither Jedi or Sith?'

' Long story short, I was blamed for somethings I didn't do, the Order sent me to be trial, and I nearly got executed. Then my Master found solid proof for my innocence and I was released. But... I refused to rejoin the Order, as I felt that they didn't trust me. So I am basically neither Jedi or Sith,' She bit her lip.

' I am sorry,' Ezra's throat felt like sawdust.

' Oh you shouldn't be. Though... I do miss the Jedi Temple sometimes...' Her expression turned dreamy in reminiscence. ' I miss the missions where we got to fight droids. I miss the beautiful Temple, the brilliant archives and the training centres. Oh, and I miss all the younglings too... They are really sweet and nice, and they are good learners too. And... I miss my Masters and friends.' Her expression turned sad.

' Your Masters?'

' I was the Padawan to Anakin Skywalker, the Hero with No Fear, one of the Generals in the Clone Wars. He... Was like both a father and brother to me at the same time, and we fought through a lot of battles. He was extremely gentle, caring and protective, though sometimes rash and angry. And we fought with Master Obi-wan Kenobi, a really capable Jedi Master as well. And there was Master Plo Koon, he was the one who found me and brought me to the Temple. Ah, did I mention Senator Amidala? She was such a powerful and elegant figure on the Senate. The Clones are friendly too, especially Captain Rex.'

' Clones? I thought they turned against the Jedi during Order 66,' Ezra pointed out.

' No, Rex didn't participate in Order 66. He had retired before that,' Ahsoka defended quickly.

Ezra was quiet for a while. Then, he said slowly, ' Ahsoka, do you ever regret leaving the Order?'

' What?'

' I can feel how much you miss the Order. And also I can tell how much you miss your Master and friends. So I am wondering... If you ever regretted your choice?' Ezra looked up at Ahsoka.

Ahsoka stared at her lap absently, ' I have asked myself this question many times too. Yes, I do miss everyone and everything about the Order. And I do know that my Master had tried to locate me, but failed to. I know I broke his heart to pieces. But... The Council didn't trust me, and there was a side to the Jedi Order that I never saw. They tried to bring the world peace, set the best rules, but in fact... The Jedi Code may not be the best. There were a lot of loopholes and mistakes in it that were overlooked. But I do not blame my Masters. It's just... They were human after all. I had thought the rules suited me like a glove, but... They didn't. And it deemed to me that I should seek for another path, a new life that can accommodate me. There was no point in sticking to one path.'

The younger boy looked at Ahsoka with newfound respect and understanding, ' Wow... I never knew. Thanks so much for sharing with me.'

' No, I should thank you for listening. This has been bottled up in my head for so long, and it is really nice for someone to hear me rant,' She laughed.

Before Ezra could answer, a loud voice blared from the corner, ' Ezra Bridger! Get down here immediately!'

Ezra stood up and left the room, but not without shooting Ahsoka a smile before leaving.


	2. Chapter 2

Ezra trudged from the cockpit to trace the source of the angry voice.

' EZRA BRIDGER COME HERE THIS INSTANT!'

He raked a hand through his messy hair with a sigh and started to go towards the source - Kanan's room. He had expected to see the rest of the crew inside his room, but instead, it was empty except for Kanan, who looked positively mad. And annoyed.

' You called?' Ezra tried to say nonchalantly.

Kanan ignored his question and glared at the younger boy, ' Where were you just now?'

Knowing that he couldn't possibly lie to his master, Ezra mumbled, ' Sitting at the cockpit.'

' With who?' Kanan said, growing more and more suspicious every second.

' Um, Ahsoka,' Ezra grinned nervously, a bead of sweat running down his forehead under the older man's glare.

Kanan's eyes widened, ' Oh Force. I knew that would happen. You didn't ask her anything embarrassing or inappropriate, did you?'

Ezra decided not to answer. However, his facial expression was enough to tell Kanan the truth.

' Oh Ezra, how many times have I told you not to ask or mention the Jedi Order in front of any past Jedi?' Kanan clapped a hand to his face in exasperation. ' That is extremely rude and not respectful at all. You can't just ask somehow sensitive questions to satisfy your curiosity, you-'

' Please do not blame him, Kanan. I told him about the Order myself,' A soft voice said behind the pair. It was Ahsoka. She was leaning gently against the door.

Kanan gaped at Ahsoka incredulously, ' Ahsoka, you-'

' In fact, I feel much better now, after I have talked to Ezra,' She smiled thinly. ' He is a very good listener, and thanks to him, I can go back to loving and treasuring the fond memories of the past in peace, instead of regretting and feeling upset about it. After all, it is useless to dwell on the past, instead we should look forward to the future.'

Kanan looked down at the floor, ' I agree with you. But it is very hard for me. I feel like I have failed my own Master. She sacrificed her life to save me from the clone troopers. All my friends and respected Masters died in the Jedi purge. I always feel like they have died in vain.'

' No. They didn't die in vain,' Ahsoka corrected, causing Kanan to look up in shock. ' I am pretty much the same as you are. I constantly feel like I should have stuck with the Order till the end. I feel like my Master had died in vain as well. But we are fighting for them now, aren't we? We are avenging them by fighting our way through the darkness to find new light and hope. We didn't succumb to the Dark side. You haven't failed her at all. Instead, she would be proud of you.'

' You are right,' Kanan finally said. ' We are fighting for them. Every single one of the Jedi.'

' Then tell your Padawan about the old Order. I think he deserves to know,' Ahsoka smiled. ' It is rather unfair for him to be a Jedi without knowing anything about the history of the Order.'

Ezra swelled with happiness. He was all ready to 'puppy-eye' Kanan, when Kanan sighed, ' Alright. Alright. I will tell him everything he wants to know.'

Ahsoka smiled once more at the pair and turned to leave.

* * *

That night, Ezra lay in his bed, feeling satisfied, yet conflicted.

Kanan told him all about the Temple, the missions and even the one time he was stuck in the bacta tank (' I can't possibly describe the disgusting taste of bacta,' He grimaced) for one whole week after accidentally falling face first in a training lightsaber (thankfully the worst injuries a training lightsaber could cause were serious bruises).

He should feel happy. But he felt kind of sad. How he wished to see the Jedi Order with his very own eyes. He wished he had been born earlier. How nice would it be!

He would give anything to just have a glimpse of what the the old Order looked like.

But well, he told himself miserably. It would never happen. The old Order had been destroyed years ago.

Finally deciding to put his thoughts to a rest, he fell asleep.

It was until a brilliant flash of green light woke him up. ' What in the name of the Force,' He mumbled sleepily, and to his shock, a woman was standing at the foot of his bed.

The woman had long green hair, spring green eyes and pale white skin. She was wearing a long golden dress that touched the floor.

' Who are you? What are you doing here?' He yelped and shrunk into his pillow.

' I am Daughter, a Force wielder, or more like the personification of the Light side of the Force,' She introduced herself. ' I have felt your wish to see the Old Jedi Order.'

' Um, err,' Ezra mumbled, apparently too terrified.

' Your wish is not hard to grant, really,' Daughter said. ' In fact, I can use my powers to send you back to the past, back to the Clone Wars time period for a week.'

' Really?' Ezra gasped.

' Yes, but only on one condition,' She became serious. ' You cannot disclose any part of the future to the Jedi, because that will caused the future to be imbalanced. If you attempt to let go of any information, you will be brought back immediately. Though you are allowed to say that you are a time traveler. Also, you can choose two companions to assist you.'

' Um, Kanan Jarrus and Ahsoka Tano,' Ezra said, probably wanting two former Jedi to show him around. ' Okay, I will not tell them anything.'

' It will be a one-week journey, and you will be sent back afterwards by the Force.'

' Thanks. But... Why are you helping me?' Ezra asked curiously.

Daughter said delicately, ' Because I can feel that your wish is pure and good. You are a child of Light, Ezra Bridger, born to wield the light side of the Force. That is why I help you. Now... It is time to wake up. You will find yourself directly outside the Temple. And the time zone, to be exact, is a year after the departure of Ahsoka Tano.'

And she disappeared.

Ezra began to find his surroundings fade away, rippling like water, until he was sitting on a stone ground, with Kanan and Ahsoka stirring feebly next to him.

 **Disclaimer alert: I do not own all the above characters!**

 **Hello! Just to let you know, I have decided to expand this story into a mini-fic. ;) The next chapter will be the start of Ezra, Kanan and Ahsoka's adventure, do be patient! :D**


	3. Chapter 3

' Ezra... What is going on?' Kanan moaned groggily, while trying to shield the light from his eyes.

Ahsoka squinted feebly, ' Argh, what is that?'

Before Ezra could give them a proper explanation, the two adults' eyesights cleared and they could finally see where they were. They gasped in shock at the same time.

' T-t-t-t-t-that is the Jedi Temple!' Ahsoka stammered.

' I-It was destroyed! H-how come?' Kanan stuttered for words. He was rubbing his eyes to confirm the sight in front of him.

Ezra briefed them on the mysterious Force-wielder's words. Kanan was silent, but Ahsoka said incredulously, ' Daughter? I thought she died!'

' What? You know Daughter?' Ezra raised an eyebrow.

' Long story short, I nearly died on Mortis, but Daughter sacrificed her soul to resurrect me,' She explained. ' How come she is still alive?'

Kanan murmured, ' The Force works in a mysterious way. We can never know how. Meanwhile... Let us figure out what to do first and how to explain to the Jedi in there without leaking out information about the future. Also, my master will freak out when she sees me. If the time zone is correct, I should still be a teenager now. This is bad.'

' Talk about a worse situation, what will my master, I mean, former master say when he sees me? Like to him, it must be like that: his apprentice left the Order a year ago and shows up as a 30 year old woman one year later,' Ahsoka said.

' Sorry guys, I didn't mean to drag you into a situation like this?' Ezra bowed his head apologetically.

Kanan sighed, ' It's okay. I mean, it is a good experience too, because I have always wished for you to see the Jedi Order. So let's pop in and say hi to the people. And hopefully, they won't blast us out thinking we are clones.'

* * *

Ahsoka felt conflicted.

She was happy, because she could finally see her old friends again after all these years. After she left the Order, she had retreated off to the quiet corners of Coruscant. And when Order 66 was in place, she tried to escape, and was fortunately found by Bail Organa. She joined the Rebellion, and renamed herself as Fulcrum. But she never had the chance to see Obi-wan.

She was sad too, because she realised how much she had missed the place. Yes, Ezra was right, she did miss everything about the Temple. And the fact that everything would be destroyed in a few years time further saddened her.

She felt helpless. Though she was able to travel back to the past, she wasn't allowed to disclose anything about the future. She couldn't change anything. Most important of all, she couldn't change her Master. She had lived for more than ten years, believing her master had died in Order 66, but a week ago, she discovered worse. Anakin had turned to the Dark side and was personally responsible for the rise of the Empire. She simply didn't know how to face him without bursting into tears and hugging him or spill everything to him.

No, she didn't lie when Ezra asked her whether she knew the Sith lord. She knew Anakin Skywalker, a compassionate, loyal hero who fought for the Republic. She didn't know Darth Vader, who was cold, evil and mechanic in every way.

But then, she decided to put that aside. The Force had granted her a chance to visit the past. She should make good use of the week. Maybe in the future, she could use the memories to make herself fight harder for the Rebellion, for the sake of the past...

* * *

' Right, we are now in the Temple,' Ezra looked around in awe. ' What else we should do know?'

Ahsoka said, ' I think we should go find the Masters... They will know what to do. Preferably Master Yoda. He will believe us, I am quite certain.'

Kanan still looked sick, ' I... Don't know what to say when I meet Master Billaba.'

' Relax, Kanan,' Ezra patted his distraught master on the back.

' If I remember correctly, the Council chamber is over there,' Ahsoka pointed at a corridor, looking rather uncertain. ' It's been a long time... I can't...'

The trio tried to peek around for the correct way, when a voice shouted, ' Hey! How did you get in and who are you?'

They jumped back one whole mile just in time to see a certain Kel Dor Master behind them.

' Master Plo!' Kanan and Ahsoka gasped together, while Ezra jumped behind them in fear.

Plo Koon stared at them for a while before understanding and recognition hit home. ' AHSOKA?' He gasped in shock. And he noticed Kanan, ' Could this be... Padawan Dume of Master Billaba?'

Ezra recognised the name. He had heard of it before... But where...

' That was the name I used when I was still a Padawan here,' Kanan whispered in Ezra's ear, not wanting the Master to hear what he said. After all, they were not allowed to disclose anything, which would be hard.

' But you can't be Padawan Dume,' Plo Koon kept looking at Kanan as if he was a ghost. ' Just two days ago, a teenaged Caleb Dume nearly knocked me over with a cart of books in the corridor. You can't have aged so much in a few days.' He turned to Ahsoka. ' And you, Little Soka. You have left the Order a year ago, and you can't have matured so much in just a year. You look like a grown woman now.'

Ahsoka piped up nervously, ' Um, I am Ahsoka Tano. This may be rather strange, but all three of us are from the future, like about twenty years in the future. The Force sent us here. This is Caleb Dume, but he goes by the name Kanan Jarrus now. And this is Ezra Bridger, his Padawan.'

' That is impossible. I have never heard of time travelling via the Force,' Plo faltered. ' Are you a clone?'

' No I am not. You found me in Shili when I was still three years old and brought me to the temple to be raised as a Jedi initiate. When I was 14, I was assigned to Jedi knight Anakin Skywalker as a Padawan. Is that convincing enough?' Ahsoka said exasperatedly.

Plo shook his head, ' You don't seem to be lying...'

' This can be explained when we find the Council,' Kanan said politely. ' Master, can you show us the way to the Council Chamber?'

The Jedi Master stared at the trio, and sighed, ' Fine. I'll lead the way. But you will need to explain carefully to the Council what is going on.'

He walked next to Ahsoka and gave her a hug, ' You have grown so much, Ahsoka. I can't believe you have left for a year, we all have missed you so much. Um well, or more than twenty years for your time zone.'

' Thank you Master, it is good to be back,' Ahsoka followed the Master while Ezra and Kanan stayed quiet. ' Um... How is the war?'

' The same, really. Nothing has changed,' Plo said serenely.

' Umm, is Anakin and Obi-wan here?'

' Both of them are off with the 501st legion to a rather confidential mission. It has been quite a long time already, and all of us are wondering when they will be getting back. Oh, here we are.'

Ahsoka didn't know whether to be thankful or not. One part of her was dying to see them, the other part was rather fearful.

They had stopped right outside the familiar Council Chamber, and coincidentally, the Council was holding a meeting.

Mace Windu was the first to look up from his seat to face Plo, ' Master Plo, good that you are here, we have received news from Master Kenobi that they- AH!'

It was so rare for the usually-so-calm master to shriek in surprise in the middle of the room, that the entire Council looked at the door curiously. When their eyes fell on the so grown up Kanan and Ahsoka, they gasped.

Ahsoka was trying hard not to cry. It had been a long time last she saw the Masters, in all their former glory... And Kanan was blabbering like a fish, and trying hard not to make eye contact with Depa Billaba, because the female Master was looking at him in utter shock and horror. ' C-c-c-aleb?'

Plo cleared his throat at an attempt to bring on the story, ' Um, fellow masters. We have visitors claiming that they are from the future.'

The room broke into inquisitive chatters. Yoda said out of the noise, ' Great disturbance in the Force I have felt, upon your arrival.'

' Master Yoda, you believe these... er, visitors?' Ki-Adi-Mundi stared at the trio suspiciously.

' This is very hard to believe... But Master Yoda believes them, so therefore I will,' Shaak Ti said, rather uncertain. ' But... Is that Ahsoka Tano and a very grown up Padawan Dume? And the youngling-'

' His name is Ezra Bridger, my Padawan,' Kanan said.

Depa Billaba was still rather shaken, ' But t-that's impossible! I just saw Caleb half an hour ago! He still looked like a teenager! And he is still my Padawan, he can't take a Padawan himself!'

' Master Billaba, they are from the future, so naturally, they look grown up,' Luminara seemed rather ill at ease. ' Though... We have never seen Ahsoka since she left. How do you do?'

' Very well, Master Unduli,' Ahsoka replied politely. ' The Force has sent us from the future to the past, so here we are. We come in peace.'

Windu scoffed, ' Huh, if you are really from the future, so what is the future like?'

Ezra looked at the two adults, totally unsure of what to say.

' Forgive me, Master Windu,' Kanan said. ' The Force has clearly instructed us not to mention the future or else it will be unbalanced and disrupted.'

Windu was about to argue, when Yoda said, ' Believe in their story, I do. Disrupt the Force, we must not. Welcome the guests, we must.'

' I will attend to that,' Plo Koon said. ' How long are you staying?'

' A week,' Ezra answered promptly.

' We can assign Kanan and Ezra to the quarters next to Master Billaba and young Caleb Dume,' Plo said. ' And as for Little Soka here... I think that we should assign her back to Knight Skywalker's place for the time being.'

' Wha-?' Ahsoka began to argue, but Shaak Ti said, ' It is a good idea.'

' Dismissed, you all are,' Yoda said pleasantly, and the Masters began to leave the room one by one, still muttering under their breaths skeptically. Depa Billaba wanted to stop by to have a good look at her suddenly-so-grown-up Padawan, but decided against it.

' Awkward,' Ezra said.

' Yeah right, let's go, I do remember where Master Billaba and my quarters is located. Ahsoka, I think Knight Skywalker's quarters is far away from ours, so I guess we need to take a different path. Shall we rendezvous around here after an hour?' Kanan said.

' Sure,' Ahsoka answered.

Kanan placed an arm around his Padawan, ' Come on, Ezra. We have lots to see.'

Ezra nodded excitedly, all ready for a day of sightseeing and fun. Well, he should consider it a holiday, definitely better than fighting Inquisitors or Sith lords.


	4. Chapter 4

' So... What are we going to do next?' Ezra flopped down onto the bed of his quarters.

The quarters was comfortable enough for him, judging that there weren't a lot of space in his own cabin on the Ghost. He had never seen a bedroom as large as that either. The whole quarters was separated into two separate chambers (designed for a Master and Padawan), a living room and a refresher.

No one had lived there for quite some while, so the place was rather dusty. Well, it definitely required some dusting, but Ezra didn't care.

Kanan shrugged, ' We could go sparring if you want. This place has the best training arena. It is so much better than some outdoor place, where you can't concentrate.'

' Hey! Who says I can't concentrate,' Ezra yelped. ' Cool, I want to do some sparring. Let's go. You lead the way.'

' Sure.'

Master and Padawan walked out of the room just in time to bump into a teenaged boy. The boy had rushed out of his quarters so fast that he knocked Ezra to the ground.

' Owww, who-' Ezra groaned and tried to get up.

' Oh Force, I am so sorry!' The boy and Kanan helped Ezra up. He couldn't help but take in every detail of the young boy in front of him.

The boy had neat dark brown hair and blue eyes, dressed in traditional Jedi clothes. He must be a Padawan, because he had a Padawan braid.

When Kanan took sight to the boy, he jumped from him in surprise. Ezra began to realise that the boy, in fact, looked like Kanan. Or more like, was Kanan, or Caleb Dume in that case.

' I am so sorry!' Young Kanan (Caleb) bowed his head, but hurried away immediately as if blown by wind, while shouting, ' I am so sorry! But I am late for training class! Master Billaba will be so angry!'

Ezra remarked as he watched the boy leap away (he even tripped twice and dropped his lightsaber once before hurrying away round the corner), ' Master, you have never told me that you were so careless and clumsy as a kid.'

' What?' Kanan face-palmed. ' This is so awkward seeing myself as a kid.'

' Though you were one cute kid,' Ezra teased, only to earn a glare from his master.

Kanan mumbled, ' Oh, do shut up and move on.'

Ezra grinned before following his master down the corridor.

* * *

Ahsoka definitely remembered how to return to her old quarters.

Sure, she could forget how to reach the Council Chamber, but she could need forget how to reach the quarters, where all the fond memories were held.

She pressed the button to open the door, and door slid open.

The place was as she had remembered before. The living room, dining room, refresher, bedroom were all...

As messy as before.

Ahsoka had to stifle a laugh despite all the heavy, conflicting emotions in her head. Without her cleaning, the room was actually messier than usual. Random scraps of metal littered the floor, and dust was basically everywhere. Plates were randomly placed in the sink and everything seemed misplaced.

There were two bedrooms, one for her, one for Anakin. Both doors were closed, but not locked. Ahsoka took a peek at Anakin's room.

As she had expected, metals and fixing tools were sprawled all over the floor. Random robes and armour were thrown over his unmade bed. The only tidy place was the bed stand, where a couple framed photos stood. One had Obi-wan, Padme, and him in it, taken when he was still a scruffy looking Padawan. Another had Anakin and herself in it, taken just weeks before the bombing of the Temple (with Rex unintentionally photo-bombing them). She looked so young and carefree in the photo, completely oblivious to the horrible future in store for her.

And there was a small box next to the photos... She gingerly opened it, and in it, was her Padawan braid. She took the string of silka beads and rolled them in her fingers. No doubt Anakin had kept it as a memento.

She left the door open to put out the dust, and moved on to her room instead. When she got sight of her old room, she was surprised indeed.

She had expected the room to be a mess like all the other areas in the quarters, but it was spotlessly clean and tidy.

It was almost as if she had never left at all. All her photos still hung on the wall and in her wardrobe, all her old Jedi uniforms were in it, untouched (though slightly frayed). Lying neatly on the bed were her... Old lightsaber and shotosaber.

She had lost the shotosaber in her run, and the main lightsaber in her fight with Bariss. How Anakin had managed to retrieve them, she didn't know. She pressed the ignition button of the main lightsaber, and it flared up, brilliantly green. She would want to keep them, but she had new lightsabers already, her two silver ones. It would be weird if she fought with four lightsabers (perhaps in Grievous style?), so she decided to leave them with Anakin.

Ahsoka extinguished it, and went back outside, to survey the mess.

' Well, I guess the one hour rest shall be spent as cleaning time,' She said aloud to the empty room.

* * *

Ezra nearly forgot how to breath when he reached the training arena.

The place was so... Beautiful.

There were balancing beams all around, and a rack of training lightsabers stood near the walls. A large white centre was hollowed out for duelling. The place seemed more futuristic and nicer than those rocky places where Kanan and him usually sparred.

' Told you, you will love this place so much,' Kanan chuckled. ' Anyways, stop gaping like a fish! We have lots to do. Bring up your lightsaber, we will try duelling.'

Ezra held up his blue lightsaber, and just ran towards Kanan to clash towards his blade. Kanan calmly deflected it, blocking Ezra's strikes but didn't try to attack.

Kanan was right... This place did help him think and concentrate better. Instead of being tight and nervous, he felt relaxed and let his natural abilities flow through him...

Or maybe he was too relaxed. Because with one mighty blow, Kanan knocked him to the ground.

' Well done, Ezra,' Kanan smiled as he offered Ezra a hand to help him up. ' Honestly, you are improving.'

' Sorry, I was too relaxed,' Ezra said apologetically and took Kanan's hand.

' Don't worry, this used to happen all the time to me,' Kanan chuckled lightly. ' Though you manage to have saber locks with me, which is a very good thing. Now... Since you are all warmed up and stuff, let us work on your deflecting skills.'

He walked over to the stash of training materials in a box, rummaging through the contents. ' Aha! Knew there would be one,' He held up a spherical device.

' What is that?' Ezra said in awe.

' That is a remote droid. It can hover around you and shoot laser bolts at you for you to deflect. A handy thing in training lightsaber skills it is,' Kanan explained. He threw the device up into the air and it began to shoot small laser bolts at Ezra.

' Ah ah ah!' Ezra scrambled around to deflect the bolts. Though he was screaming, making embarrassing squeals and basically acting crazy, he managed to deflect all the bolts of lightning.

Kanan used to the Force to deactivate the remote droid. Ezra dropped to the ground, panting hard, ' Dude, you don't need to set such frequent intervals!'

' Ezra, in battles, laser bolts don't have intervals,' Kanan put away the remote. ' They come at you in all four directions. So you will have to learn how to not run out of energy when deflecting them.' Ezra groaned.

' Now I have said it, next time I should put up more...'

' KANAN!' Ezra's eyes widened.

' Just kidding, I won't push you that hard for the time being, okay?' Kanan held up his hands as a form of surrendering. ' I think it is almost an hour. We have to rendezvous with Ahsoka near the Council Chambers. We better get going.'

Shooting one last glance at the training room, Ezra got up to follow his master.

* * *

Ahsoka was leaning against the wall, waiting for Kanan and Ezra.

She arrived early. Though the room was as messy as a Hutt's den, it took no time to clear up all the junk, from her experience of clearing up her master's stuff. She used the Force to sort all the metal scraps, and washed all the dishes. She even ran a duster over all the surfaces. She even pillaged some fruits from her quarters and saved some for Kanan and Ezra for breakfast.

' Oh, are we late?' Kanan approached her with Ezra behind him, still panting from his training.

' No, you are on time,' Ahsoka smiled. ' Want some fruit?' She tossed them each a piece of fruit.

' Thanks,' Ezra beamed. ' What did you do?'

' Um, I just mooched around and cleaned the quarters,' She shrugged. ' What did you guys do?'

Kanan said, ' We went to the training arena and sparred for a while.'

' Cool, that is definitely one of the places I must visit,' She laughed. ' So what are we going to do next?'

An idea popped up in Kanan's mind.

' I do think we should go visit somewhere...'

* * *

In the middle of the council room, two holo figures appeared. Anakin Skywalker and Obi-wan Kenobi.

' Members of the Council, it is my greatest pleasure to inform you of the success of our mission,' Obi-wan announced dutifully.

' Our team is ready to make it back to Coruscant within a day,' Anakin told the Council members with a light-hearted smirk.

' Great,' Mace Windu said. ' We await your return. And you are going to be in for the greatest shock.'

' What?' Obi-wan and Anakin said together.

Shaak Ti shot Windu a pointed glance before saying,' Um, nothing. We shall await your return. Until then, Master Kenobi, Knight Skywalker.'

The two blue figures bowed and disappeared.

Luminara said afterwards, ' Really. They are going to be in for the greatest shock.'

' I still don't understand. Why can't they tell us the future?' Mace Windu scowled. ' Like they could at least tell us when this war is going to end.'

' Respect the will of the Force we must,' Yoda spoke quietly.

The Masters looked at each other, and decided to say nothing about it.

 **AN: Another chapter done! :DDD Do not fear! Anakin and Obi-wan will show up in no time! ;)**

 **Something funny happened today. Like, I was sitting in my bedroom reading Star Wars fan fiction, and suddenly the Star Wars theme played. I thought I was imagining that, but when I looked out of the window, I noticed a music band rehearsing the theme song downstairs! Ah, the coincidence. And then they began playing the Imperial March and the conductor used a red lightsaber instead of a conductor's baton. I couldn't stop laughing... They repeated the song for like five times.**


	5. Chapter 5

Ezra had the best day of his life.

Ahsoka and Kanan showed him all around the Temple, meaning the archives, Room of a Thousand Fountains, Temple Halls etc. He even walked past some Jedi Masters and their Padawans (Kanan had teased him by threatening to give him a Padawan braid).

Let's say it was the most ideal day. No Stormtroopers, no chases, no TIE fighters and best of all, no Inquisitors or Sith lords to hunt them down. Well, he could at least try to forget about the horrors in store for them for the time being. Ezra could actually happily claim himself as a Jedi (he wouldn't try that in his own timeline. None of them wanted to risk having a thousand stormtroopers shooting and chasing after you in the public). He actually had a real sense of belonging to the Jedi Order.

It was beginning to get late, so they retired back to their quarters. Kanan had asked Ahsoka to help them with cleaning up, and she obliged whole-heartedly. After the cleaning up time, Ahsoka returned to her own quarters to call it a day.

Ezra returned to his own room. He opened the wardrobe to find several sets of spare clothing inside the wardrobe. He picked out a plain beige set of pyjamas, put them on and jumped into bed.

But he was too restless, or too excited to really fall into sleep. So that was probably why he woke up early in the morning, feeling energetic and all ready for the next day.

He put on his orange jumpsuit, equipped his lightsaber and crept out of his room. Via the Force, he could tell Kanan was still sleeping away soundly. It wouldn't hurt to sneak off to the training arena on his own for extra training, would it?

He had just made it out of the door of his quarters, when at the same time, a boy walked out of the quarters next to his own as well. It was Caleb Dume.

The boy looked up to see Ezra, and his eyes widened to the size of saucers, ' Oh Force! You must be the Padawan from the future, I have-'

' Shh!' Ezra clapped a hand to Caleb's mouth, silencing him. ' Can we continue this conversation somewhere else? Your dulcet tone will wake up the entire Temple.'

The boy blushed and mouthed, ' Sorry. Didn't mean to.'

' What about the training arena, huh?'

Caleb nodded enthusiastically. So the pair made it to the Sparring Arena.

Once there were inside and closed the door behind, Caleb began to hyperventilate again, ' So-o-o-o-, are you the Padawan from the future? I have heard Master Billaba mention you guys yesterday at dinner, and she told me that the dude with you yesterday is me! Like Holy Force! He is me? I am him? This is so cool! Is he a Knight yet? What will happen to me?'

' One a time!' Ezra held up a hand to steady the over-excited Padawan. ' Yes, my name is Ezra Bridger, and I am from the future. It is via the power of the Force that Ahsoka, the older you and myself can be here for a one-week trip. And... I am not supposed to tell you about the future so I'll have to pass.'

' I can't see his Padawan braid,' Caleb started to dance again. ' That means... That can only mean I am a Knight! Huzzah! Hurray! Whoohoo!'

Ezra couldn't say anything except sigh mightily, ' If you put it that way.' He couldn't believe the calm, collected and mature Kanan he knew could possibly be related to this hyperactive, excited kid.

' So what am I like? Am I a good teacher?' Caleb pushed on happily.

' Well... Let's say you are a really good teacher. You were the one who generously introduced me to the ways of the Force,' Ezra said just to please and shut the kid up. But he did mean it.

' Huzzah!'

Ezra rubbed his temples, which was beginning to ache, ' Um, since you are here, why not we spar?'

' Cool, I'd love to spar with my future student,' Caleb beamed and ignited his blue lightsaber.

The two boys fought. As Ezra blocked the coming attacks, he couldn't help but try to analyse Caleb's skills. Of course it resembled Kanan's fighting styles (seeing they were the same person), but it was a little less refined, less polished and well... Crazier. But Ezra knew that his style would later be trained and polished to morph into the skills of the older Kanan.

Though Caleb did get Ezra off guard by a particularly 'happy' strike (could lightsaber strikes be happy?) and he was disarmed.

' Good fight, good fight,' Caleb laughed heartily. ' I think you should definitely take after Form III like me, or er, your Master, meaning the older me.'

' That is what I am thinking of, but I am trying out Form V too,' Ezra said truthfully.

' Tsk tsk, Form V is very hard to master as well. I think the only few Jedi that could use the form to its fullest would be Master Skywalker and Master Plo Koon, but hey, you can give it a try,' Caleb Force-summoned Ezra's lightsaber and handed it back to him.

Before Ezra could answer the boy, the training room door revealed Kanan and he bounded in. ' Ezra Bridger! I knew you would be here, you could have told me that you are here, you know, you-'

' OH HOLY FORCE!' Kanan's words were brutally cut in half by Caleb, who was regarding him with dazzling eyes.

' I can't believe it! You are me!' Caleb screamed. ' Oh man, you are so tall! I wish I can be as tall as you are. Wait, that is possible, because I am you too! Hahaha right! That's wonderful! Ooh, that is my lightsaber! We have twin lightsabers! Is that even possible? Oh and wait, HEY THERE OLDER ME!'

Kanan was probably wearing a facial expression of utter horror and a how-could-I-have-been-so-hyperactive-as-a-kid-and-in-front-of-my-Padawan-too-I-am-so-embarrassed grimace.

' Anyways, I have been sparring with younger you, Kanan,' Ezra stifled a snigger. ' But I guess, I should leave you two to socialise and um, catch up with each other...' Before Kanan could stop him, Ezra ran away from the room in giggles.

Kanan sighed. So he was left in a same room with his younger self, who basically idolised him and was looking at him with an appreciative and crazy smile.

His worries were cleared away when Ahsoka entered the room, looking ready for a day of sparring.

' Thank goodness you are here, Ahsoka, save me from this overly happy kid,' Kanan quickly swerved over to avoid Caleb, who looked as if he was ready to ask him for his signature.

' That is you, isn't it?' Ahsoka looked at Kanan pointedly. ' Be nice to him, Kanan. Plus, you can't bully yourself.'

' Can I at least shake your hand?' Caleb pleaded with shiny eyes.

Kanan groaned heavily and allowed Caleb to shake his hand.

* * *

' Home sweet home,' Anakin sighed pleasantly, breathing into the fresh air of the Temple. ' No more droids, no more cabins and no more bouncing fighters.'

Obi-wan and Anakin had just got off the Jedi fighters from the mooring tower, which symbolised the end of their mission. The mission had took them nearly a month to accomplish.

Obi-wan said seriously, ' We do have to cook up a report for the Council. They expect for a lengthy report of the entire mission though. But they allowed us a day of rest, so we don't need to worry about it until tomorrow. We have the entire afternoon to ourselves.'

Anakin snorted, ' I have nothing to do though.'

' Me neither. So I think I'll just spend my day at your, ahem, den,' Obi-wan rolled his eyes sarcastically.

' Excuse me, den?' Anakin repeated, offended.

Obi-wan sighed, ' I mean, the state of your quarters could be compared to the den of a Hutt. Like, you don't even wash your dishes and pack your scrap metals. I know you like tinkering with stuff, but you have to learn how to clean up your own mess, especially when Ahsoka is no longer here to clean up your-' The master stopped abruptly, noticing the dark look from his former Padawan. It was still a rather sensitive topic for him.

After a while, Obi-wan said, ' Fine. I am coming over to sulk anyways.'

' You can sulk all you want, I'll just tinker around with stuff. It has been a long time,' Anakin mumbled. They were about to reach Anakin's quarters.

' And I'll try to clean up your stuff,' Obi-wan said sardonically.

Anakin shot his former a master a glare before turning to open the door to his quarters. What was inside scared him out of his wits.

Sure, the Hero with No Fear had no fears. But when it came to a suddenly tidy room, he would freak. Or at least have trouble picking up his jaw from the floor.

' AUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!' He screamed. He had expected to see his usually-messy room with scraps and litter all around.

' Shh! Anakin!' Obi-wan said sharply, not yet seeing the room. ' What is wrong with you?' But when he looked over Anakin's shoulder, he too shouted, ' AAAAAH!'

When the two grown men had calmed down, Obi-wan said in a stunned voice, ' B-but... How can that be?'

They inspected the kitchen, bedrooms and refresher. All the scrap metals were neatly piled into a box. Dishes were washed and placed in the right cupboards. All his frayed uniforms were freshly washed and ironed.

' I can't recall the Temple hiring cleaning droids,' Anakin said in awe. ' This is impossible.'

' Plus, there are no cleaning thieves too,' Obi-wan stuttered. ' Has this place been broken into? There is no way that Hutt den of yours can be cleaned or tidied on its own.'

' Hang on, I'll use the Force to sense who has been in here,' Anakin held up a hand and concentrated.

He caught a whiff of a very familiar Force presence, still lingering off the walls. So familiar, yet so different. ' Can you sense a super familiar Force signature?' Obi-wan started looking around.

' Yes,' Anakin stared at his former master. ' In fact... It is leading off somewhere...'

' What are we waiting for? Let's track down it!' Obi-wan said.

The two men started racing down the hallways.


	6. Chapter 6

Ezra had decided to return to the sparring room to see what was going on with Kanan and his younger self. Though he was very sure that Kanan would be murderous at him for ditching him with Caleb.

He was most pleasantly surprised to find that Ahsoka had joined Kanan and Caleb at the arena. Caleb made himself a rather comfortable seat upon used cardboard boxes and sat there watching interestedly at Ahsoka and Kanan's conversation.

' Welcome back, kid,' Kanan said snappishly at Ezra, while Ezra could just wave guiltily. He moved to sit on the floor, cross-legged next to Caleb.

' Since the kids are in such a good mood, why not we entertain them with a good lightsaber duel?' Ahsoka suggested cheerily.

Kanan stared, aghast, ' Are you kidding me? No way I am going to stand a chance against you, Ahsoka.'

' Why not? I have heard that you are most capable at Form III combat,' Ahsoka crossed her arms. ' Besides, technically my skills are still Padawan level. I have never completed my training, don't you remember?'

' Me neither! I was-' Kanan was about to say that he was never knighted, but apparently he didn't want to disappoint Caleb, so instead he said, ' My skills are a bit rusty. I haven't used them for, um, quite a long while.'

' Me too, I haven't had a sparring partner for like, ten years or something,' Ahsoka argued.

' You built your own lightsaber without a Master's help even if you never completed your training! This alone is a sign of how skilled you are on your own.'

' Jeez, stop whining and fight,' Ahsoka wouldn't take no for an answer. She had already gripped both of her lightsabers in her preferred reverse grip way.

Kanan looked between Caleb and Ezra and Ahsoka, then sighed heavily, ' Fine. It is just a friendly match okay? Don't go too hard on me.' He walked into the centre of the room and ignited his lightsaber, holding it in a defensive stance.

' THE FRIENDSHIP MATCH COMMENCES!' Caleb and Ezra screamed at the same time and earned themselves an annoyed glance by the older man.

Ahsoka jumped and launched herself into the exciting duel.

* * *

' I must be having air sickness, because I swear that the Force signature is so familiar,' Obi-wan followed his former Padawan along the corridor. Both of them were still sniffing out the signature.

' You are not having air sickness,' Anakin said sharply. ' The Force signature is strong... Filled with light and hope... Yet guilt, helplessness and a certain amount of sadness and regret.'

' You are pretty right, my friend,' Obi-wan agreed grimly. ' And if I haven't mistaken, our little tracking adventure is coming to an end, because we are at the duelling arena.'

They would have called off the chase and head back to their quarters, but the vigorous slashes and hisses from saber locks that caught their attention. ' A duel is going on,' Obi-wan said. ' It wouldn't hurt for us to just get a little peek, would it?' Anakin shrugged.

So the men walked towards the door of the arena and just poked their heads inside.

They were right. A duel was going on between a man and a... Togruta?

Two younger kids were sitting upon boxes, viewing the match excitedly. Both of them could recognise the brown-haired boy, which was Padawan Caleb Dume of Master Depa Billaba. Though the blue-haired kid... They couldn't recall seeing a boy like that in the Temple.

They couldn't recognise the man at all. He looked like he was in his late twenties, his dark brown hair tied in a small ponytail behind his head. He wasn't wearing Jedi garb at all.

His opponent was an older Togruta woman, with white and blue striped lekku, wielding a silver lightsaber and shotosaber.

' Are those silver lightsabers?' Anakin whispered in shock.

' Those ARE silver lightsabers,' Obi-wan confirmed, a little bit bemused. ' I don't even know that silver crystals exist besides blue, purple, green, yellow and well, of course Sith synth-crystals.'

They watched as the woman leaped towards the man in one graceful flip and locked sabers with his blue one. One could simply tell the woman was using Form V fighting while the man used Form III. They parried, kicked at each other and tried to fend off the other.

As Anakin watched, he couldn't help but find the fighting style so familiar. Then it was like a switch flipped in his mind. All the clues pieced into one.

The reverse grip.

The vigorous blocking tactics.

The jumps and leaps.

It could only be one person.

Before he could look at the finished puzzle in his mind, his attention was brought back to the duel. The woman had ended the duel by disarming Kanan and Force-pushing him away to the wall, but everyone could tell she was using the minimal strength, because she didn't want to hurt Kanan.

Seeing that the match had ended, the men shrugged and turned to leave when...

' Oof,' Kanan said, summoning his lightsaber back into his hand and tried to stand up. ' Told you I would lose. You are trained by the best, so naturally your lightsaber skills are so good. But it was a good fight, Ahsoka.'

Both men froze in their tracks. _It can't be her, it can't be her._ Anakin eyes met Obi-wan's eyes. The older man seemed rather motionless, but he could sense the jolt of shock from their own bond like a zap of electricity.

The woman laughed mischievously, ' You could say I was trained by the best, a Form V specialist too.'

That was the final straw. Both men recognised the voice immediately. Anakin went into immediate shock and dropped his lightsaber.

Such noise wasn't missed by young Caleb, who had very good ears. The young boy caught sight of the two men outdoors, and immediately sprang up from his seat into some sort of salute, ' M-master Kenobi, M-m-master Skywalker!' His eyes were once again filled with absolute admiration and awed at the sight of the two famous generals.

The woman froze.

* * *

Ahsoka was finding it hard to face her former Master.

She doubted if she could stop herself from hugging him. If she hugged him, she wasn't sure if she would be able to let go.

However, she acted calm. She calmly extinguished her lightsabers and stuck them back to her belt. Steadying herself, she turned to face the two men.

Obi-wan hadn't changed much. His ginger coloured hair and beard were still neatly trimmed, and his grey blue eyes were filled with wisdom as usual. Though his normal Negotiator face was replaced with a look of pure shock and amazement.

Anakin was the one who changed. His brown hair had grown much longer than before. His posture was much more composed, his face more steely and mature. Except he too, was wearing a look of utter astonishment.

She could feel his eyes scanning her whole figure, and his incomprehension flickered through his face in just milliseconds.

The room was completely frozen, because Ezra, Kanan and Caleb were stuck in their positions, unsure of what to do and what was going on inside the room. Ezra shot Ahsoka a silent look, as if asking her to do something to the awkward situation. She could go for a rather emotional one, just run forward to hug her former master and try to forget about the future mess. She could go for an innocent tone. Or she could just rage at him for going to the Dark side.

She went for the innocent tone.

' S'up Skyguy?' She waved jauntily. ' What's going on with your hair?'

Obi-wan blinked, completely taken back by her abrupt, random comment. Like after Ahsoka left, between periods of fighting with the Separatists, Anakin and him would try their best to find her. They tried roaming Coruscant and they even bumped into Ventress and Cad Bane for a couple times. Even the two bounty hunters had to speak the truth: They couldn't find the Togruta girl anywhere on the planet. But their target of the year had appeared directly in the Jedi Temple, and her first comment would be about Anakin's new hairstyle. And the fact she had aged so much during the year daunted him. Her large blue eyes that used to be so innocent grew wisdom and matureness in them. She had to be much taller than before.

Then, he looked at his friend. Tears were forming in his eyes with disbelief. Then he did the obvious thing. He ran to hug the Togruta.

She was hesitant at first, but returned it.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi! Just to let you know, I appreciate all your feedback! :DDD Now I must not tarry, for the story must continue...**

Ezra, Kanan and Caleb were walking along on the corridor aimlessly. They had left mostly because they didn't want to disturb Ahsoka and her former master's reunion.

' So what next?' Kanan looked at Ezra. ' Where are going? I don't think we can return to the training arena.'

Caleb gulped, ' Actually, I should get going because Master Billaba should be after my blood right now. I kind of, er, have missed Language class this morning, like three times in a row.'

' You-' Kanan rubbed his temples.

' Kanan. I didn't know you have a tendency for skipping classes,' Ezra was shocked. Kanan didn't strike him as a naughty or disobedient kid. Ezra usually imagined Kanan as a star student and a strict rule follower during his days as a Padawan. However... The truth was so different.

Kanan and Caleb exclaimed together in defence, ' Hey! It isn't my problem that the language classes are so boring and they have so many homework for us.' They gawked at each other when they realised they spoke simultaneously. It was almost like an older twin.

' You know what,' Ezra sighed, feeling his head beginning to throb. ' I want to faint. So Caleb, I guess you should go find your master.'

' She will be so angry,' Caleb squeaked.

Probably all three of them had sensed a mild tremor in the Force, a blast of fury, because on the spot, they could hear a screech, ' CALEB DUME! WHERE IN THE NAME OF THE FORCE ARE YOU?'

' I think you better go find her, kid,' Ezra pushed Caleb. ' Before she roasts everything in her path.'

Caleb didn't really need to go find his master, as she was already storming towards the huddled group. ' There you are, Caleb,' She said in a dangerously sweet voice. ' I have been looking everywhere for you. Now do you have a reason for skipping Language class _again_?' She emphasised the word 'again'.

Caleb murmured something faintly.

' I know Language class is boring, but you have to take it! All Padawans take it as well. It will help you in the future when you negotiate with enemies,' She told the kid sharply. The kid bowed his head.

' That is it, I'll make sure you attend all your classes starting from today,' The female master pinched the bridge of her nose in defeat. ' And no lightsaber training if you don't go to classes.' Caleb's eyes got big in horror at the prospect of no lightsaber classes.

Depa Billaba was ready to haul the boy away when she finally noticed Ezra and Kanan, who were gaping at the pair, wide-eyed.

' Um,' She said awkwardly, not taking her eyes of Kanan.

Ezra guessed that a train of thought was probably going through her mind. Could this tall, quiet and responsible man be the grown-up version of my own hyperactive, cheerful Padawan? That's impossible.

' I'd stop to talk, but I need to take care of Caleb and make sure he sets his priorities right. I guess I'll see you later,' Depa said finally, grabbed Caleb by his arm and hauled him away.

' Let's hope she won't give him a time-out,' Ezra said, after the pair turned away from the corner, out of sight.

' She won't,' Kanan chuckled. ' She could be very strict, but she definitely isn't the type of master that scolds people.'

* * *

' I missed you so much,' Anakin whispered after breaking away from the hug. ' Where were you this entire year? Obi-wan and I tried contacting you countless times, but we can never find you. We tried calling your comlink but you never answer.'

Ahsoka bit her lip, knowing that she couldn't tell him that. She had to respect the will of her present self. What if Anakin and Obi-wan really went to retrieve her present self and ended up changing the entire future?

The truth was that she had gone back to Shili, the home world of Togrutas. There, she lived for a couple years. Sure, she did receive comlink calls, but she declined them all, not wanting to remember about her past life, because she would break down and cry all over again. She did sense a sudden tremor in the Force when Order 66 was issued, though she couldn't investigate. It was only when Senator Bail Organa somehow had found her and told her what had happened, asking her to join the Rebellion. She nearly fainted of shock. Then, she went to Illum to construct a new pair of lightsabers, knowing well she would need to defend herself from the Empire. As a former Jedi, she could still have a massive bounty on her head.

' The truth is that I am not from here,' She told him as bluntly as she could. ' I am in fact Ahsoka Tano from fourteen years in the future.'

' What?' Obi-wan and Anakin goggled at her, as if she had gone crazy.

' I am sorry I can't tell you anything about the future,' She bowed her head. ' That could cause the Force to become unbalanced and tip over. It is pretty fragile.'

Obi-wan stroked his beard, ' She has a point, Anakin. Plus, she must be telling the truth, for she definitely looks older than twenty. Though I must say the story is rather crazy. How did you get here?'

' The Force did it,' Ahsoka said.

Anakin crossed his arms, ' That is ludicrous. Why can't she tell us what will happen in the future? It can help us win the war, you know. I am getting pretty tired of this Clone War thing, besides, it is no fun without you by my side.'

Ahsoka eyed him wearily. No no no. She couldn't tell him that.

Thankfully Obi-wan lectured his former Padawan sternly, ' Anakin, Master Yoda always says, we have to respect the will of the Force.'

' Great. So I can't even start a chat with her. I can't even ask her how is her life, how is everyone doing, and what will happen to me in the future,' Anakin scowled.

An image of Darth Vader flashed in her mind, and Ahsoka shuddered. No she didn't want to remember about the Sith lord.

' Precisely,' Obi-wan said. ' You can simply forget about that. Just treat that as a one-week visit or something, or like she has never left before.'

Anakin looked between them both and sighed mightily, ' Alright, Obi-wan.'

' For now, we need to catch up on things... And I am still pretty tired, so can we go back to your quarters?' Obi-wan looked at Anakin.

' The offer of tea still stands,' Anakin put an arm around Ahsoka. ' We have lots to talk about then.'

' Speaking of which... Was that you who cleaned Anakin's room?' Obi-wan asked.

Ahsoka shrugged, ' Well, old habit of mine. I just can't stand living in a room that is so messy.'

' Wait, you are living in my quarters?' Anakin yelped.

' Yep, you are stuck with me, Skyguy,' Ahsoka smirked at him, using his old nickname.

' Snips,' He shook his head with a smile.

 **AN:**

 **Hi! I may not be able to update this weekend, because I have five tests coming up next week (like Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Geography and History), and I'll have to revise. Sorry! :((( I'll try to squish some time to update though. :)**

 ***ray of hope***

 **Have you guys seen the new episodes of Star Wars Rebels Season 2 yet? They are so good. :) So happy Captain Rex is back! :)**


	8. Chapter 8

' So... What's with the time travelling mission thing?' Obi-wan asked as he slipped into his famous position (the tea pouring Negotiator) and poured tea for all of them.

' What mission thing?' Ahsoka stared at him incredulously, accepting the cup from the Jedi master.

Obi-wan shrugged, ' Nothing, it's just what is the purpose of the whole time travelling thing. Are you supposed to accomplish something or what?'

Ahsoka set down the cup, because her hands were obviously shaking and she wanted to hide the fact. What could she tell them both without spilling any beans? She definitely didn't want the trip to come to an end either. But the fact Anakin's piercing blue eyes were boring into her back didn't help much with the reality.

' Nothing, it was just a wish made by Ezra,' She said. Well, at least it was a truth. Judging from the two men's bemused expression, she realised they didn't know who was Ezra.

' Ezra is the blue-haired kid just now in the arena. He is from my time period, and apparently, he, uh, wanted to see the Jedi Temple,' Ahsoka nearly bit her tongue, because she regretted her words immediately.

' I thought he was a Padawan. What's the big fuss with seeing the Jedi Temple?' Anakin scowled, apparently wanting to lure Ahsoka into saying more.

Ahsoka invented creatively, ' Uh, he and his master were positioned at the Lothal Temple, they have been there training for years to prepare for the trial, so Ezra would like to come back and have a look, uh, and then continue his training in peace.'

' He could just hire a ship back to Coruscant,' Anakin said. The first bead of sweat was going down her neck, because as usual, Anakin was super observant and pretty hard to fool. He could probably sniff out a lie as easily as he could slay down those idiotic Separatist droids.

She was beginning to shrink back, when Obi-wan came promptly (unintentionally too) into her rescue, ' Anakin, you can't just randomly come back in the middle of training just to _visit_ the temple or because you want to. You have to train and train until you can finish your trials and come back. Lothal temple is famed because it could potentially kill the Master if the Padawan fails.'

Ahsoka jumped into Obi-wan's suggestion gratefully, ' Yeah, Ezra has been raised there for quite a long time. Kanan needs to prep him until he is, uh, ready.'

Anakin raised an eyebrow, ' Huh. But where is his Padawan braid? I can't see his braid.'

Ahsoka mentally slapped herself. How could she explain that? She couldn't say the order was destroyed and supposedly Ezra was training in secret to avoid being arrested by the Empire. Even Obi-wan couldn't save her because he looked pretty interested as well.

' Uh uh, Kanan is famed for his unorthodox ways... He doesn't wear Jedi garb, and he doesn't require Ezra to wear a braid,' She said creatively, trying to give out a rather neutral tone.

' The Council lets him off?' Anakin said incredulously. ' Oh goodness, Obi-wan. Why didn't you let me off without a braid? I looked ridiculous with a braid and a ponytail.'

' Hey I'm only making it fair! I wore a braid and a ponytail when I was a Padawan too! It doesn't seem fit for my Padawan not to wear one,' Obi-wan's eyes widened. ' Plus, it is tradition.'

' But I hate the braid!' Anakin whined.

' Oh do shut up, you are already a Jedi knight! The past is in the past! Don't go whining over something that has gone by for so many years.'

' But I still hate the braid.'

Ahsoka quickly took a drink out of her tea, which was cold already, also secretly grateful for the change of topic. She couldn't help but sweat a little bit over how to survive the following week while watching at Anakin and Obi-wan bicker on the topic of Padawan braids.

* * *

Ezra and Kanan bumped into Caleb again on the hallways back to their temporary quarters.

He was sulking off in a corner.

' Do you reckon your Master punished him, I mean you, uh, him?' Ezra whispered.

' Nah,' Kanan shook his head. ' I told you Master Billaba is gentle despite her strictness. I guess she will attend to his schedules more strictly and makes sure he goes to all his classes. Including language.'

' Shouldn't you say "your schedules"?' Ezra mocked.

Kanan groaned.

' Hullo, Caleb,' Ezra went over to greet the sulking boy.

' Hey... Ezra,' Caleb looked up from his little daydream. ' And... Hello Older Me.'

' So, what's going on? Why are you sulking like this?' Ezra asked, a bit worried for the boy.

Caleb let fly an unenthusiastic and mighty groan, ' Master Dillapa has set her heart onto taking me to classes everyday to make sure I attend all my language classes. That's horrible. If I don't, I will not have any lightsaber classes! Imagine a day without lightsaber classes! I think I'll die.'

' C'mon, it won't be that bad,' Ezra coaxed Caleb. ' Sit there, listen, jot some notes and boom, before you know it, a lesson is done.' To Ezra, boring language classes still sounded much better than being pursued by a frightening Inquisitor.

' I really don't like the lessons,' Caleb moaned. ' I wish one day, I don't have to attend them ever again.'

Ezra had almost forgotten about Kanan's existence, so he nearly jumped when Kanan said quietly, ' You should learn to appreciate the time you have, no matter it is lightsaber class or language class.'

The young Padawan's eyes got big in horror, ' WHAT? No way! Are you telling me to appreciate the boring classes where I need to spell my name ten times in Basic? Besides, you are me. You should know well how I hate language classes. And now you are telling me to love the lessons?'

Kanan got a bit annoyed, ' I am not telling you to love the lessons. But you must remember: you'll never appreciate something until you don't have it anymore.'

Caleb looked totally confused, but Ezra knew what Kanan meant immediately.

Sure Kanan would be totally the same as Caleb when he was just a kid. He definitely despised going to the writing and language classes where he would sit with other boring or bullying Padawans and just poke his name in Basic for ten times. Or read long articles all day. He wished everyday that he would someday not have to sit with those boring Padawans and attend the pointless classes. And sometimes, he didn't want to admit it, sometimes he found Depa Billaba's constant nagging him to pay attention in classes quite annoying (though he still respected her).

Now, he got what he wanted. He didn't need to attend classes anymore (seeing as there were no classes for him to attend at all, they were all destroyed). There were no boring or bullying Padawans to sit with anymore. But what good it did to him? Additionally, he got Order 66, lost his Master and basically everything he used to cherish. So he sometimes wished that it would all be just one huge nightmare. When he woke up, he would basically attend ALL the lessons and finish all his homework to give thanks to the Force that none of the horrors were true. Sadly, it wasn't the case. It was true.

Ezra looked up to his Master and gave him one comforting pat on the back.

As for Caleb, he still looked befuddled.

 **YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY! The test week is over!**

 **Anyways... Here is another chapter! Hope you liked it! :D**


	9. Chapter 9

Eventually, Ezra and Kanan ushered Caleb back into his quarters, in order to stop the kid from endlessly loitering about in the Temple corridors, moaning about the language lessons he had to take the next day.

Depa Billaba was in there, meditating. She snapped awake when she noticed the trio entering. Caleb seemed to have calmed down, though he still didn't quite get Kanan's words (of course he wouldn't get it), and was showed Ezra to his bedroom. The boys were allowed to stay in the room to toy around, while the adults sat outside to talk.

' Tea?' Depa poured a cup for Kanan.

' Thanks,' Kanan said hastily, remembering it had been so long since he had tasted tea. Like steaming hot tea from the Jedi Temple. Food was a scarce during his time, and even slightly rotten fruit or stale water sounded pretty fortunate and nice for the Ghost crew. Tea was a kind of luxury to Kanan. He inhaled into the cup, savouring the fragrance of the tea.

Depa was an observant woman, so she said, ' Tea must be a scarce in the future then, I guess.'

Kanan nearly dropped his cup in response, ' What gave it away?'

' Uh, just your expression? You are holding it as if you have just been handed a kyber crystal,' She held up a hand. ' I know I know, you are not supposed to say anything to me about the future. But let's just treat this as a Master-Padawan reunion? I can simply presume that we don't see each other often in the future.'

 _Just as observant as before_ , Kanan sighed mentally, and hoped to keep a neutral face.

She then looked interested, ' Pray tell me how you did it.'

' What?' Kanan stared at her, completely befuddled. ' Did what?'

' I am very interested how you can transform from a hyperactive, sugar-high kid into this grown and mature man,' His former master shook her head in amusement. ' I can't simply believe it. Just the last few days when you nearly ran over Master Yoda in the mess hall, it had me convinced that you would have to blunder your way blindly and carelessly into Knighthood.'

A distant memory awakened inside Kanan's head at her words. The same thing had happened in his own past. He was still a Padawan, he had 'gracefully' tripped over a banana peel (probably left by some of the younglings) at breakfast, and toppled over the old Jedi master who was just walking past him with a walking stick. Thank goodness Yoda was agile and alert despite his old age, and was able to scoot away from him to hold him in place with the Force. The elderly master then quietly trotted away, not before saying, ' Careful, young one' to him. He just stood there, utterly embarrassed.

His ears and neck felt warm. The incident had been ages ago, but he still felt embarrassed.

' And the other time you tripped over Luminara Unduli's robes,' She said serenely over her tea.

Kanan could remember well. The female Jedi master was pretty well known for her dress-code, which meant the long, bulky dark purple dress that touched the floor as she moved around. One day when he was jostling around in the training arena, he had actually stepped on the hem of the dress and flipped onto the floor, but not without doing a cartwheel before landing. Luminara nearly fell as well, but she managed to get a grip on the wall. He was then helped up by Luminara's Padawan, who was called... Ba... Bar... Bari... He couldn't remember. Yeah right, Barry Office or something similar, who shot him an annoyed glance before setting off with her master.

' Not that you were hopeless, but your clumsiness basically got into the way of your training,' Depa explained. ' So I was wondering how you managed to get rid of the habit.'

' Life and death situations?' Kanan shrugged. It was half the truth. He still remembered well after he had evaded Order 66, he hid in a musty cave. He remembered that he had shakily cut off his braid with his lightsaber and changed his Jedi robes into some clothes he had managed to scavenge around the wasteland he was roaming. He knew well that his braid and robes would be a beacon to the Empire, something like, ' _hey there! I am a Jedi! Kill me_!' He had cried himself to sleep, telling himself that he was alone. He had no one to help him. No master, no friends. If he wanted to survive, he would have to stay alert. That was probably when he had lost his innocence and actually became a real man.

' Life and death situations huh,' Depa repeated, her ever-bright brown eyes scanning Kanan carefully.

* * *

' So you have plans for tonight?' Ahsoka immediately asked after Obi-wan got out of their quarters, saying that he needed a shower.

' Yeah, actually you know what? I have a plan,' Anakin mused out loud. ' We are going off to the clones mess hall to have dinner with them.'

' WHAT?' Anakin smirked at Ahsoka's face.

' You know, you have never really said a proper goodbye to the poor clones, especially Rex. You at least owe them a visit,' He said. ' Rex and the others will be so happy to see you.'

' Meh,' Ahsoka shrugged. The last time she had seen Rex and all the others was when she was chased around by clones.

' Let's go then, shall we?'

They got out of the quarters, and it was when Anakin first remembered the two new lightsabers dangling on Ahsoka's belt.

' Gee, you got new lightsabers?' He pointed at them.

' Of course! Even though I am away, I still need to protect myself. Like, who knows when General Grievous will pop out to have revenge or when Asajj Ventress decides to capture me?' She huffed.

' I managed to dig out your old ones,' He said after a short while. ' They are still in pretty good condition.'

' You can keep them,' Ahsoka said. ' As a memento. Not to be rude, but I can't fight with four lightsabers can I? Just keep them in memory of me.'

Anakin sighed, ' Yeah, they are too short for you. And your new lightsabers, if I recall correctly, they are silver, right?'

' Bingo.'

' How in the name of the Force did you manage to get silver crystals?'

' Dunno. I am unpredictable like that,' She winked mysteriously.

' Fine. But you are really good at using it, so that is a good thing, I guess. I saw you fighting that Kayman.'

' Kanan.'

' Whatever, but I assume that you still insist to use the reverse grip?'

' Of course!'

' Fine fine fine. Anyways, we are there...'

They had arrived at the mess hall, which were occupied with clones. Ahsoka used to like to sit with the clones during meals, because they cracked pretty good jokes while eating. It was definitely a good place to relax after a tough battle.

She could see clones in different coloured armour sitting down at random tables with trays laden with food, chattering away happily. Her heart did a gymnastic routine when she saw the 501st, gathered around a far table to the corner. Rex was the most recognisable, because he was still wearing his specially painted blue armour, talking with Fives.

Anakin sauntered up to them casually, and cleared his throat, ' Hello boys!'

Rex looked up from his food and stared at him, ' General Skywalker, what's the matter?'

' Is there a mission again?' Echo set down his fork. ' We just got off one.'

' No... I am not here for a mission,' Anakin rolled his eyes. ' Why associate me to the Mission-bringer whenever I find you?'

The clones laughed.

' No there is no mission, I repeat, there is no mission!' He said, going slightly red.

' So... What is going on then, General?' Fives pretended to look interested.

Anakin looked at him, ' I have someone for you guys to meet...'

 **Hi! I'm back again!**

 ***literally sighing* I just had Sports Day yesterday, and I took part in a 100m race ( I went last place *not a surprise* *cough* * and my good friend went first place*) and today, I have really sore legs. I still have this running exam tomorrow for school, so I am still figuring out what to do... :(** **Any good running tips?**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey there!**

 **Thank you all for the kind tips considering running! :) They were all useful (so thanks a lot!) and worked pretty well. In the end, I ran 8.5 laps in 9 minutes which is the best record yet in my entire life, because in the past, I would simply break down and moan when I completed 7 laps, which is the passing mark. That may not be the same case for you all athletes out there, but considering my very terrible PE skills and sore legs (that feel as if Darth Vader has sat on it), I am pretty satisfied with the result already. :D So thanks again! Here is an especially long chapter as a token of my gratitude to you all who kindly read this fic. :)**

* * *

' Welcome to my humble room,' Caleb said proudly, gesturing around him.

Ezra blinked once or twice to check that his eyes weren't fooling around with him. He had expected a completely unruly, after-tornado room, but instead, the room was orderly and in fact, well-kept that it could reach the level of tidiness of Kanan's room on the Ghost.

' Uh, nice room!' He managed to say after a minute or so. ' I didn't know you have a tendency of keeping tidy rooms. I had expected your room to be, uh, messy.'

Caleb explained, ' A clean room helps with concentrating and meditation, don't you agree?'

' Yeah,' Ezra said, shrugging lightly. ' I agree. Can I look around?'

' Sure,' Caleb said, while carefully smoothing out non-existent wrinkles on his blanket. ' Be my guest.'

Ezra trudged over to the writing desk under the window, and examined the tabletop. He stifled a giggle when he saw a stack of unfinished Language homework and a couple short, broken pencils lying near the monstrous pile. Caleb seemed to know that Ezra was looking at his blank worksheets, because he chuckled, ' Yep. All my homework. My Master dug them all out from the rubble and wanted me to do it.'

Wrinkling his nose, he plucked out a random paper from the pile and read out loud, ' _Write an essay describing the Jedi Temple._ How lame is that! And there is another one... _Write about a mission of your own choice with your Master._ Force, and look at this one from last year. _Compose a poem about yourself and read it out to the class._ Like I am going to do that and die of embarrassment. I would run them over with my lightsaber if I could.'

Ezra knew a little about schools because he had never been to one. Heck, he was a street kid before he joined the Ghost crew. The closest thing he had 'entered' was the Imperial Academy, but it wasn't really a school and he was just working as an undercover cadet for a mission. But he knew 'homework' was create to help someone do well in exams.

' But homework is supposed to help you do well in exams. I presume you have exams too? So how are you going to score high if you don't practice your knowledge?' Ezra pointed out. ' Besides, you don't even attend classes.'

Caleb dug out a nearly crushed booklet from the bottom of the stack and handed it to Ezra proudly. Ezra looked at it and his eyes nearly popped out in surprise. Because:

 **Report Card of Padawan Caleb Dume**

 _General Information:_

 _Name: Caleb Dume_

 _Rank: Jedi Padawan_

 _Master: Depa Billaba_

 _Language_

 _Term Mark: 3%_

 _Exam Mark: 100%_

 _Attendance: 1/10_

 _Remarks: Caleb is an extremely clever student, as he scores perfectly in all his exams or practice tests. However, his conduct needs further improvement, because he is often late or absent from classes. And it is advised for him to turn in all his homework and assignments._

 _Mechanism_

 _Term Mark: 82%_

 _Exam Mark: 95%_

 _Attendance: 7/9_

 _Remarks: Caleb is a capable student who actively participates in class discussions. His handiwork are all excellent, but further care would be advised, because his clumsiness gets in the way of his cleverness._

 _Politics_

 _Term Mark: 10%_

 _Exam Mark: 97%_

 _Attendance: 3/8_

 _Remarks: A clever student, but if he works harder during the term and avoids careless mistakes in exams, it would be better._

 _Lightsaber combat_

 _Term Mark: 98%_

 _Exam Mark: 99%_

 _Attendance: 12/12_

 _Remarks: Caleb is very good with his lightsaber, and he has almost perfected Form III. However it would be much better if he avoids tripping over his foot while duelling._

Forget about the term marks, but overall, his exam marks were very good.

' How do you even do that?' Ezra stared at Caleb. ' Like how can you score so high without studying?'

Caleb shrugged, ' That is probably why I don't like to go to classes. The answers just pop up in my head naturally. Don't really know why, I was born this way, I think.' He didn't sound arrogant or anything, he sounded plainly clueless.

Ezra sighed and put down the report card. _Little did I know my master was a child prodigy._

* * *

Ahsoka forgot how to breath.

Sitting in front of her, were stunned clones, and most of which were her brother in arms and basically friends.

Then Order 66 came back to her mind, fresh and new. She should have resented them for murdering all of her friends in cold blood. She should have hated them. But she knew that it wasn't their fault, mostly.

A couple years after taking up the position of Fulcrum, the rebel informant, she was contacted by a strange transmission from Seelos. To her surprise, it was Captain Rex contacting her. At first, she demanded for explanations for Order 66, but then Rex told her everything. Everything about the inhibitor chip in their heads that caused them to go killing everything. He mentioned about Tup, Fives and that he wasn't involved in the Purge. He had removed his inhibitor chip along with Gregor and Wolffe before the Purge happened, and retired from the legion.

Understanding came to her. Immediately, she felt a sense of pity for the clones despite that they had carried out the Order. They were programmed to complete assignments, there were no stopping, no matter how attached they were to their fellow Jedi. It was like being possessed.

So she couldn't help but feel her heart break a little for the clones. Every single one of them, whether she knew them or not.

* * *

The clones stared at Ahsoka in an expression as if they had just seen a ghost. Kix had just had a bite of bread in his mouth, completely forgotten that his left cheek bulged.

Echo gasped, ' C-commander!'

The others followed suit in a chorus of, ' Commander Tano!'

Apparently this caught the attention of the rest of the clones in the hall, because they were all muttering, turning in their seats to get a good view and gasping in awe.

Of course they knew of the story of the former Jedi. Her departure had been a hot topic amongst the legions even outside the 501st for weeks, until Rex threatened them to stop. Even then, the clones discussed secretly about the matter (of course not in front of Rex, because he had actually thrown a cheese sandwich at Jesse for announcing Ahsoka's departure loudly in the mess hall. The cheese had taken a long time to wash off).

The others had interesting theories about where she had gone to. They were not created out of fun or boredom, but they were all guesses from fellow clones out of concern and respect for the former Commander. Fives was very convinced that she had stayed around Coruscant to keep an eye on them. Kix reckoned she had stayed to work at Dex's Diner as a cook or something. Tup even suggested that she had gone to live as a Grey Jedi in the faraway outskirts of Coruscant. Fox thought that she had gone off to live on Tattooine as a bantha herder (that simply made no sense and earned him a couple weird looks).

Of course all were conducted in secret or in the dark between training and war sessions, as none of the clones liked idea of being attacked by Rex's new powerful weapon besides his double blasters - _The Destructive Sandwic_ h, as they all called it behind sniggers. But the clones reckoned Rex knew about their underground discussions, because he would shoot them suspicious glares during free time when they were huddled together. However, as long as the clones didn't mention a single word in front of the General, he would not bring out _The Destructive Sandwich_. It was hard, because on the first mission after Ahsoka had left, the legion clearly felt ill at ease, as they couldn't get used to the absence of the snippy commander to the General's right. It could be said that they actually missed her snippy retorts.

As for the General, they knew her sudden departure hit him hard. For months, he couldn't get over the fact she was gone. For example, when they were out for a mission on Felucia...

 _' Now people, we have a serious business to finish,' Anakin said, standing tall in front of the sea of clones. ' I want you to split the legion into two parts. The first half will be led by me towards the centre of the place, and the other half will be led by Captain Rex and Commander Tano-'_

 _His face darkened within milliseconds. The clones looked at each other worriedly, especially Rex, who was fidgeting around with his painted blue helmet nervously._

 _' Forget about it. She's gone,' He continued coldly. ' I repeat one more time. The first half will be led by me, and the second half will be led by Captain Rex. We shall rendezvous here again when the task is done. R2, guard the ship and wait for us. We'll take off immediately when we return.'_

Or the other time...

 _The 501st legion and 212th Attack Battalion were standing on the hangar bay, waiting for the General to arrive patiently. Anakin and Obi-wan arrived at the same time, so they prepared to board the ship._

 _It was when Anakin looked around him, as if sensing something amiss, he blurted out, ' Wait, not yet. There's still someone, wait till I give her a piece of my mind for being late.'_

 _The men stopped, already aware of the General's mistake. Of course the older Jedi sensed it too, because he said firmly, ' Anakin. There's only me and you on this mission. Cody, set for-'_

 _' No, we are missing Ahsoka, she is always late-' He stopped in realisation._

 _Cody and Rex eyed each other nervously, both secretly worried that the General would whip out his lightsaber out of blind frustration and start to skewer everything in sight. Luckily that didn't happen, because Obi-wan scented danger in the air as well, and ushered Anakin up the ship before he could say or do anything._

Now. The mystery of the era was solved. Not quite solved, as one thought went through the men's thoughts at the same time.

 _Blimey. She's grown so old._

Gone was the snippy, young teenager they knew. Standing in her place was a mature, tall Togrutan woman with eyes that simply spoke of wisdom and understanding and a posture of experience, confidence and strength. Clipped onto her weapons belt were new lightsabers and they definitely weren't the ones she used in the past.

Rex was the first to recover from the silence, ' G-general Skywalker, this...'

' At ease, men,' He said. ' She is not a ghost. This is indeed the former Commander Tano. But she is not exactly the same one we used to know.'

Kix said with a mouth full of food, ' Chwot zhu rmin kzay xnch cham?' Anakin raised an eyebrow.

Kix seemed to finally notice of his bulging mouth, that he blushed and swallowed, ' Excuse me, I mean, what do you mean by not exactly the same one? She looks exactly like Commander Tano, but well, much older. No offence.'

' Indeed I am Ahsoka Tano,' Ahsoka spoke for the first time, her calm voice washing over the clones. ' But I am Ahsoka Tano from fourteen years into the future. So naturally I look older. No offence taken, Kix.'

The men muttered amongst themselves, incredulous at the story. Even Fox's story about Ahsoka living as a bantha herder on Tattooine didn't sound so bizarre at that point.

' The Force works in a strange way,' Anakin said, as if knowing what the men were pondering about. ' It isn't up to you or I to know what the Force wants. But just so you know, Ahsoka will be around for a week or so, and she will be back to her timeline afterwards. Treat this week as some sort of reunion week, and remember, don't ask her anything about the future, as we won't want to disrupt the universe.'

 **Thanks for reading and thank you once more. :D**


	11. Chapter 11

' So... What did you do today?'

Ezra and Kanan were back at their own quarters after spending two hours at Caleb and his master's quarters. Time passed so quickly, but both of them had a wonderful time.

' Your younger self showed me all his blank school works and his _perfect_ report card,' Ezra glanced at Kanan with an evil smile. ' I didn't know you were a child prodigy. Why didn't you tell me that?'

' What?' Kanan gasped. ' He actually showed you his report card? That is so private! Hey, that's my privacy! He can't go sharing it with everyone!'

' _You_ did it,' Ezra said lazily, plucking an apple from the fruit bowl on the kitchen table. ' And what is the problem? It isn't as if your marks are terrible. They are very good, in fact, except that your instructors are very miffed at your _attendance record.'_

He said, aghast, ' That is still private!'

' Yada yada dee dee da,' Ezra waved a gloved hand at Kanan's face, as if to block out his voice. ' Enough about my day! What did you do besides having tea with your beloved Master? Did she urge you to urge your younger self to go to Language classes?'

' Reminiscing the old times and having tea,' Kanan glared at Ezra and pushed away his waving hand, because it was starting to annoy him.

' Alright, alright, stop getting peeved,' The younger boy said. ' Let's talk about something else. Actually, Caleb and I have worked out something to, ahem, help him with his boring morning language lessons.'

' What do you have in mind?' Kanan scowled, apparently suspicious with what Ezra could cook up with.

' You know what? I am going to accompany him to his morning lessons, so he can have company. Is that okay?'

Kanan gaped at him like a fish, ' Are you serious?'

' Yeah, why not? I have always wanted to learn how to actually write something. I am a street kid. I can only write a little bit of Basic,' He crossed his arms. ' This is a very good opportunity for me to finally learn something from an actual school.'

His Master stared at him for a while before laughing, ' Oh well, Ezra, you never cease to amuse me. Very well, you can go, only under the condition that you behave. Is that alright?'

' Yep.'

' Then cool. Get to bed early.'

' _Kaaaaanan..._ It is still so early. Why do I have to go to bed early?'

' Go to bed, Ezra.'

' _Kaaaaaaaaaanan.'_

 _'_ Do you want _meditation_ instead?'

' Whoa. No thanks. You know what, I am going straight to bed. Er, good night Kanan. What nice weather, um, I mean, uh, nothing,' The boy stumbled backwards still clutching his uneaten apple and dashed into his room, horrified at the idea of meditating.

* * *

Ahsoka sat down next to the clones, in the middle of Rex and Echo, and Anakin dropped down across her. The surprise seemed to be starting to wear out, because the clones from other legions started to return to their food, but some of them constantly looked around.

She had taken from the food table a bottle of water and a cheese burger. The food was as good as she had remembered.

' So Commander, you-'

Ahsoka set down her bottle of water and looked at Rex pointedly, ' I am no longer a Jedi. Please call me Ahsoka.' (Anakin winced)

' Er, yes, uh, Ahsoka,' The clone couldn't help but find it strange and bizarre pronouncing her name. ' So... I know I am not supposed to ask you anything, but can I actually know what you are doing as a living?'

' Um, actually, I don't really have a job or anything, but I have some friends who supports my living,' She tried to construct an explanation without leaking anything. ' Though you can say I am living as a Grey Jedi or something similar.' It was true that Lux supported her with some credits per month in the pre-Empire era, but once the Empire took over, Bail Organa began to look after her. She had lost all contact with the Senator of Onderon, and wasn't sure if he was alive.

Tup shouted out, ' I was right, man!' But he clapped a hand over his mouth when Rex sent him a death glare.

' Right about what?' Anakin repeated, confused.

' Mm, nothing,' Fives grinned nervously. ' Hehe.'

Tup still looked horrified, because he remembered what Rex said. _If I ever hear you discussing the Commander openly, you'll regret it._ Call him protective or caring, no one wanted to cross the path of the _The Destructive Sandwich_. And it didn't help as Rex was looking down at his plate of mayonnaise and cucumber sandwich, flexing his fingers at the same time.

Hawk gulped. Kix whistled a tune. Jesse winced and rubbed the spot on his head as if it throbbed, the exact place where the _Destructive Sandwich_ made contact and bounced off to the floor. Even Cody, Bly and Fox who were sitting nearby pretended to look interested at their bowls of soup. _Bantha herder indeed,_ Cody and Bly sniggered.

' Calm down, Rex, it's okay, don't blame Tup,' Ahsoka said.

Tup seemed to look relieved, though his eyes remained on Rex's plate, just in case the Captain decided to take action and lob sandwiches at him.

' So... Are you alone on this er, trip or do you have friends coming with you?' Echo asked.

' I do, actually. There are two of my friends from the future, one called Ezra Bridger, a Jedi Padawan and Kanan Jarrus his Master, though you may know of him as Caleb Dume here,' Ahsoka nodded.

The clones muttered amongst themselves. Hawk said, ' Um, do you mean the Caleb Dume, Padawan of General Billaba?'

' Yep. What's wrong?' Ahsoka asked, noticing the funny looks on the men's faces.

' Uh, that kid just blundered over the milk cart and crashed into the wall like two months ago,' Jesse pointed at the wall of the far corner. They were right. Even at such distance, Ahsoka could make out a distinct outline of cracks and holes on the wall, so that they formed the shape of the front of a milk cart.

Anakin whistled, ' That kid is totally clumsy. I was there to witness the whole thing, you know. I actually was once of the victims who were splattered from head to toe. I had to change out of my tunic afterwards.'

Ahsoka shot him an _are you serious_ look. He shrugged and turned his attention back to his food.

' Kanan is alright. I mean, he is better than alright,' She said. ' Believe me, his grown up version isn't like that.'

Fives snorted, ' As if the clumsiest kid on the planet can have a polar change, changed his name even, had he?'

' Well Fives, he has a Padawan, so that means he won't be that bad, I hope,' Rex assured him. ' One needs to have extreme responsibility and care to have their very own Padawan.'

' Except Anakin,' Ahsoka smirked.

Anakin shouted, totally offended, ' Hey!' The clones laughed at the General's indignant expression, Ahsoka was also giggling.

' Show some respect, Snips, I am still your former master,' He crossed his arms.

' Still, I am technically older than you,' Ahsoka retorted with another pleased smirk. ' You better accept it, Skyguy.'

Despite the literally fuming General, the clones couldn't help but smile a little. It seemed like the snippy attitude still lived inside the grown Togruta somehow, and was resurfacing finally.

' Remind me how old you are again?' Rex asked.

' 30, nearing 31,' Ahsoka answered, ignoring the horrified look from Anakin.

Echo said, ' Now that is an age difference, General Skywalker.'

' Shut up,' Anakin said moodily. ' In my book, _experience_ still outranks everything, so I am still technically older than you, little one.'

Rex yelled out frantically, catching the attention of everyone again, ' That's my quote! That's my quote! You plagiarised my quote, General.'

' What in the name of the Force are you blabbering on around, Rex?' Anakin frowned, confused at the Captain's sudden strange behaviour.

The memory popped up to Ahsoka and she doubled over in laughter at the memory of the funny accident.

' What?' Anakin stared around.

The other clones were starting to grin as well. ' Wait, Rex, the others know about that too?' Ahsoka asked.

' Sure. After the conversation, I was telling them, "Hey lads, we have a new Commander, who is the snippiest and most aggressive Jedi I have seen besides our beloved General". So they all know,' Rex commented.

' What conversation?' Anakin was totally ignorant.

' I am referring to the first time you met Ahsoka, Sir. Remember Battle of Christophsis?'

Anakin's eyebrows creased. He had been to so many missions on so many planets, that the names of each battle were starting to mix up in his brain. ' Uhhhhh. Right... That involves... Blowing up a shield or something?' He offered hopefully, his brain feeling empty.

' Before that, Sir,' Hawk sounded disappointed.

' It seems like he is having a memory loss, Hawk. I suggest we, uh, reenact out the scene with Rex to freshen your memory,' Ahsoka deepened her voice in an attempt to resemble Anakin's. ' What's the status, Rex?'

' Quiet for now, Sir,' Rex answered word for word, from his great memory.

' They are gearing up for another assault.'

' Um, who's the youngling?' There were sniggers.

' I'm Master Skywalker's Padawan. The name's Ahsoka Tano,' Ahsoka tried to sound as nasally childish as possible, which caused laughters from surrounding clones.

' Sir. I thought you said you'd never have a Padawan.' At this point, Anakin started to remember, because a flash of recognition went past his blank face.

Jesse provided helpfully, ' There's been a mix up. The youngling isn't with me.'

' Stop calling me that! You are stuck with me, Skyguy.' That triggered bouts of laughter while Anakin was simply frozen.

Ahsoka quickly turned from her role into Anakin, ' What did you just call me? Don't get snippy with me, little one. You know, I don't even think you are old enough to be a Padawan.' She turned back to her role, ' Well, maybe I'm not... But Master Yoda thinks I am.'

Echo chimed in, ' You are not with Master Yoda now. So if you're ready, you better start proving it. Captain Rex will show you how a little respect will go a long way.'

' Come on, Youngling.'

' Padawan.'

' You know what? Let's skip to the good part.'

' Okay. Here it goes: So if you are a captain and I am a Jedi, I outrank you, right?'

' _In my book, experience outranks everything!'_ Rex grinned. ' So I told you, Sir! You plagiarised my quote. That's mine!'

Anakin scowled, ' Hang on a second. I don't even know this conversation took place after I stormed off. So naturally, it doesn't count. That means I have come up with it on my own, and no, I didn't use any mind tricks on you, my dear captain. And... How could I have forgotten this? Stupid me.'

Ahsoka and Rex rolled their eyes.

 **Whoop, another chapter!**

 **Thanks so much for the lovely wishes! XD I had a very nice day yesterday, watching movies and basically doing nothing.**

 **Back to studying now... :(**

 **Tomorrow is the Sports Day finals. We have a cheering competition to attend and I just hope that my voice won't be destroyed after the day. ;)**


	12. Chapter 12

True to his word, Ezra really went to the morning Language class with Caleb.

With someone accompanying him, language class didn't feel so boring anymore. In fact, Caleb was literally glowing when Kanan and his master walked both of them to the classroom. ' You seem to be in a good mood, my young Padawan,' Depa Billaba commented in an amused voice. ' It is not very likely for you to be in such a good mood, when in fact, you are going to a language class. Are you aware of the fact that you are not going to a lightsaber class?'

' Indeed, Master,' Caleb chorused cheerfully. ' Like, there's finally someone who I can really talk to during classes. Finally I don't have to try to force a conversation with those utterly boring kids at the back. They really bore me out. But still, I think Language lessons are so useless compared to lightsaber lessons. Master Palmer always demands us to write those ridiculous poems about sunshine, clouds and butterflies.'

' Caleb,' Depa said sternly. ' You better behave yourself. I know you are happy that Ezra is accompanying you, but he is just doing you a favour. Don't let me catch you chit-chatting in class, misbehave and you had better finish your work before class ends. I don't want anymore complaint slips from Master Palmer about your delightful classroom manners, okay? And no wrecking the class bookshelf like you did last year.'

' Fiiiiiiiiiiine,' Caleb pouted.

' And you, Ezra, I am depending you on keeping Caleb out of trouble.'

' Yes, Master,' Ezra said dutifully, and then shot Kanan a superior look.

They made their way to the classroom, and in there, getting seated and ready were all the other Padawans. At the end of the room was the teacher, an extremely tall woman with ginger hair, towering over the kids.

' Why, Padawan Dume,' The teacher - Master Palmer, was pretty surprised at the sight of Caleb. ' I am rather surprised to see you. Well, take a seat, and... Who might you be?' She turned to peer at Ezra, who immediately felt dwarfed.

' He is a temporary student, his name is Ezra Bridger,' Caleb answered. ' He will be staying with me, Master Palmer.'

' Well, Padawan Dume and Padawan Bridger, please take a seat and wait for the lesson to begin,' The woman walked to her desk.

The two boys sat down at a random table near the exit (to make a quick exit when necessary), just in front of a pair of boys who gave off a studious aura. When they looked at the door, the pair of adults had disappeared already.

' Welcome class, to the Language lesson. In case you have forgotten-' The class sniggered. ' I am Master Jean Palmer. And Padawan Dume, may I remind you that this is the Language lesson, and pray not stick your lightsaber on the table.' At this, Caleb scowled, because he had sneakily placed his lightsaber on the desk.

' Each one take a holopad from your front. Today, we are going to practice writing essays again. Don't you groan at me, Padawan Dume. Yes, essays. By writing more essays, you can learn the skills of negotiation on the battlefields,' The woman continued, while looking at Caleb out of the corner of her eye, as if daring him to disagree with her.

Caleb raised up his hand lazily into the air, almost as if to challenge the teacher. Ezra was slightly mortified by his friend's 'courage'.

' Yes, Padawan Dume?'

' I still can't understand how essays about my day in Dex's Diner can actually help me negotiate with those Separatists,' He drawled. ' As if my description of Dex's Special Omelette Surprise can help me win out Dooku.'

' Well, that is the first step,' Master Palmer was rather patient. It seemed like she had expected such act from Caleb, and was ready to accept what Caleb had in mind. ' And allow me to remind you, class. Master Obi-wan Kenobi, also known as _The_ _Negotiator_ on the Holonet, used to score a 100% on all his exams. If you want to be as successful as him, I pray that you start working harder. Is that enough to convince you? What about the whole class?'

All around them, anxious to prove that they could be as capable as Obi-wan Kenobi the Negotiator, the other Padawans began pulling out Holopads, frantically nodding at Master Palmer.

' But Master Skywalker, the _Hero With No Fear_ , I doubt he even aced a pass at his examinations besides mechanics. Yet he is still so successful, actually, more successful than most of the others. That is already one convincing proof that we don't need to do such boring essays to be successful in the future,' Caleb said innocently. Ezra tried to hide his face behind his holopad, trying to edge away from Caleb, because he obviously scented danger in the air. Caleb, however, seemed pretty innocent and just stood there, waiting for a response from the woman.

However, Master Palmer seemed to pose no emotion towards Caleb's words, she didn't seem angry either, because she said in her calm voice, ' Sit down, Padawan Dume. Whether you like it or not, it is part of the syllabus. Class, take out your Holopads and open a new file.' Ezra buried his face in the sleeve of his jacket, asking himself why he had agreed to come in the first place.

* * *

Ahsoka was walking on her own in the Temple corridors.

She woke up much earlier than Anakin, so she decided to spend the morning having a walk. They had spent the whole night with the Clones, joking and basically teasing Anakin whenever they had the chance. They had managed to reenact the entire scene before the mission on Citadel ( ' It's Ahsoka's hearing that needs help,' Fives recalled), and the quotes brought tears to everyone's eyes, well, except an utterly embarrassed Anakin.

She was turning the corner, when she bumped into a very familiar figure. It was Master Luminara Unduli.

 **Sorry for a short chapter, because I need to go to bed early. :P**


	13. Chapter 13

' Sooooooooooo. How did the lesson turn out?' Kanan tried to initiate a conversation with his Padawan.

Ezra had been awfully quiet and pale ever since Kanan picked them up from the end of the lesson. Caleb had looked as cheerful as ever, tucked his set of homework under his arm, merrily bade each of them a good day and set off pronto towards the sparring arena, not without a loud 'SEE YA' before turning the corner to find his Master.

For Ezra,he vowed silently in his mind not to accompany Caleb to any of his classes from then on. Master Billaba wasn't wrong about Caleb's delightful classroom manners. Throughout the two hours, Caleb challenged everything Master Palmer said, widening his eyes in an innocent manner whenever the woman threatened to lose her temper. There was this one time when the woman tried to snap at Caleb's response, the boy had shouted at the top of his lungs at the Jedi Master, ' The Jedi Code, Master! There is no emotion, there is peace!' Every time Caleb raised his hand lazily into the air, Ezra couldn't help but flinch. The experience was almost as daunting as the time he duelled (not exactly duel) with the Sith lord at Lothal, minus the lightsaber hisses.

Let's say Ezra had never been so relieved in his entire life when the slightly bad-tempered Master Palmer announced, ' Class dismissed.' But the next moment, Ezra thought he had heard wrong when the Jedi instructor said, ' Padawan Dume, I am quite delighted to see improvements in your classroom behaviour. Keep it up and try to improve more next time.' She didn't sound sarcastic or anything, but she actually meant it. The young boy couldn't help but try to ask himself what Caleb was like before his, um, improvements on his classroom behaviour.

' Ezra? I am talking to you.' Kanan's voice broke Ezra out of his little daydreaming bubble, and he didn't realise he was still trying to overcome the aftershocks of the roller-coaster ride lesson.

' What?'

Kanan sighed, ' I have been trying to catch your attention for the last ten minutes. What happened? You seem to be pretty shaken up. Has my younger self done something wrong?'

Ezra retold what had happened in the lesson. He didn't leave out the details at all. ' His classroom manners really is _delightful_ ,' Ezra sighed.

Kanan smirked, ' That is not the most _delightful_ one yet. Once when she called me up to tell the whole class about one particular writing technique, I spent the next half hour demonstrating how a bantha eats instead.'

' You what?'

' Yeah, I climbed onto the top of my desk, grunted and grovelled around, until all the desks around me and books are overturned using the Force. The others are cowering and running to the walls. Oh, and I remember one particular kid. He was thrown to the wall along with the chair he was sitting on. Can't really remember who he was but that kid was really terrified afterwards.'

' Holy. I am so glad I wasn't caught up in that particular one. What did Master Palmer do?'

' She quickly caught me by the back of my tunic and demanded for an explanation. And I said, " Master, I **am** explaining a form of writing technique. That is hyperbole and imagery." Let's say I got a detention for an entire week after that. I had to scrub the archive book shelves with Master Jocasta Nu. Thankfully she was pretty patient and gentle compared to many of the other detention masters I have worked with in the past.'

Ezra stared at Kanan as if he was crazy, ' You must be kidding me.'

' No I am not. And... To remind you, Master Billaba expects you to accompany Caleb to one more class tomorrow, whether you like it or not,' Kanan whistled.

Ezra stared in horror at his Master while the other walked away casually, ' Did I even promise that? I can't remember making such a promise, excuse me.'

' Not really. But my former Master has really set her heart on making him work harder. I guess you have set an impression on her that Caleb would work harder with you around him.'

The younger boy groaned mightily at the prospect of undergoing what he had experienced again. He wasn't really keen to return to it so soon.

* * *

Memories rose up too fast.

The Mirialan Jedi Master hadn't changed much. But war seemed to have worn her out slightly, the woman seemed tired and a bit shrunken. And without her former Padawan... Oh Force. Ahsoka had nearly forgotten about Barriss Offee, her former best friend. She had been so focused on running intel for rebel cells that she had almost forgotten the real reason behind her resignation.

And she didn't really have the chance to talk to Barriss's former Master.

' Ahsoka, how nice to see you again,' Luminara greeted. ' I hope you are doing well in the future?'

' Of course I am, Master,' Ahsoka bowed politely.

Luminara nodded wistfully, ' Good. A lot has changed in the Order after you are away. War is even more demanding and dangerous than before. We are losing a lot of men... As for Barriss, I am still so sorry for what she has done. I can't understand why she has done such terrible things. It is my fault. If I have been a better teacher, she may not have turned to the Dark Side.'

' It is not your fault, Master. You have tried your best already,' Ahsoka said earnestly.

' Honestly I am quite shocked at why she had bombed the Temple,' Luminara murmured half-heartedly. ' She... Wasn't like this before. Anyways, I am still so sorry.'

' Forgive me for asking, Master, but where is Barriss now?' Ahsoka asked, still wanting to know how her former friend was.

' She was executed a month after her trial and your departure,' Luminara answered sadly. ' At least before her execution, she turned back to the Light and was truly repentant for what she had done. Despite that, she is still my Padawan and I will celebrate and mourn her as a Jedi.'

' I didn't mean to bring this up,' Ahsoka bowed her head, shocked at the fact that Barriss was dead.

' It's alright. It has been a long time,' Luminara waved her hand. ' Though I was also quite shocked at your resignation. At least, all the Jedi are shocked. The younglings miss you a lot, especially Katooni and Petro.'

' You know Katooni and Petro?'

' Of course. Whenever I have time to spare between missions, I tutor them in lightsaber combat if Master Yoda doesn't have time. The younglings are extremely promising students and I expect them to be chosen as Padawans at any moment when they reach the right age. Yes, they miss you a lot. Katooni and Petro are always asking about you, whether you are going to come back.'

The grinning faces of Katooni, Petro, Gungi, Zatt and Byph appeared vividly in her mind. She remembered all their enthusiastic smiles and cheerful voices.

' I haven't actually had a chance to see them... I wonder how they are doing.'

' Actually, I am on my way to a lightsaber class with those kids. Care to join?' Luminara offered kindly.

Ahsoka nodded, excited to see her friends again.

 **I may not be able to update these few weeks, because mid-term exams are coming up (my biology and chinese desperately need work). Plz be patient! I'll try hard to squish time between studying to update if I can. :) Thanks for your understanding. :DDD**


	14. Chapter 14

The lightsaber training classroom was filled with Jedi younglings, all of them clutching a lightsaber each, chattering excitedly and anticipating the start of the lesson.

Ahsoka watched the room quietly from the door, surveying the entire scene and recognising all the initiates from the small group she had mentored.

Katooni was chastising Petro about something, her hands planted on her hips. Petro ignored her and was examining the hilt of his lightsaber instead.

Ganodi could be seen trying to teach Gungi some Basic phrases (' No, say " Hello, nice to meet you", repeat after me please- ' ' Arrrwh ryuuui haaaaar!' ) while Zatt and Byph just stood there, watching the conversation interestedly.

' Good morning, class,' Luminara cleared her throat. ' Assemble before me with your lightsabers.'

All of them dropped whatever they were doing, and gathered around the Jedi Master, faces shining with excitement. Boy, how much they loved lightsaber classes.

' Good morning Master Unduli,' the kids chirruped cheerfully.

' Good morning, Good morning,' Luminara smiled down at them. ' Nice to see you all again.'

Petro's hand shot into the air, ' Master Unduli, are we going to practice basic Soresu today? I really want to perfect this style.'

' No way, man,' Byph said. ' I want to practice Shien.'

The room bursted into commotion, as each of them argued about what fighting form to practice.

' Quiet, class,' Luminara said. ' We will decide that for later... Meanwhile, I have a surprise for all of you. I'm sure you will like it very much.'

Ahsoka stepped out to the light from behind Luminara and gave the younglings a light-hearted wave, ' Hello.'

Each and every single one of them gasped. Katooni's eyes widened to the size of saucers, and Gungi dropped his lightsaber in surprise.

' Oh, come on. I do not bite,' Ahsoka said lightly, holding out her arms.

The younglings ran forward and crowded around her, screaming in delight and basically making excited questions.

' Oh holy, where were you this whole year?' Katooni complained. ' Why did you leave without saying a goodbye to us all?'

' Hey, we missed you so much! Master Yoda said you were gone! Where have you been? Are these your new lightsabers? What happened anyways? Why are you back? To visit us?' Byph asked all at once.

' Holy Force, you changed so much, I mean,' Petro gestured to Ahsoka. ' You have grown so much taller! I feel like a midget!'

Gungi said in Wookiespeak, and Ahsoka could understand that he meant, ' We all missed you so much! Why did you leave?'

If Luminara hadn't interfered, Ahsoka would be drowning from all the questions they posed on her. ' Initiates, we can't corner Ahsoka like this, can we?' Luminara calmed the children down. ' To answer all of your questions, yes, Byph, Ahsoka is here to visit us for about a week or so. She will be going back to her home planet afterwards.'

' Awwwww!' Katooni complained.

Petro patted his friend gingerly on her back, ' That is okay, Ahsoka. But we will have to make sure these few days are fun and interesting, so we can have fond memories. Is that right, Master Unduli?'

Luminara smiled, ' Yes, indeed, Petro. Let's not tarry any further, Ahsoka, can you be my assistant? We'll be practicing lightsaber forms of your own choice. Class, ignite your lightsabers and spread out, so no one will be injured.'

Snaps and hisses filled the room as everyone ignited their own lightsaber. But they collectively gasped when they saw the colour of Ahsoka's lightsaber, which was silver.

' A silver lightsaber... Interesting,' Luminara said in awe. ' I have never seen silver kyber crystals before.'

' Ahsoka, I thought your lightsaber was green,' Katooni pointed out. ' I remember you have a shotosaber, but according to my memory, it was yellowish green.'

' I lost both of them during my run,' Ahsoka said. ' So I built new ones at Illum to protect myself, who knows if Grievous will be after me?'

The younglings shuddered at the thought of the Separatist General.

' Enough of chit-chat, we must get on with our lesson,' Luminara said. ' Go on, swing your lightsaber for me.'

They spent the entire hour correcting the grips of the younglings and giving them professional opinions. Ahsoka was pleased that they had progressed so much the last time she saw them. Katooni was very good at Ataru. All of them were pretty much eligible fighters and suitable candidates for the Padawan positions. She would have loved to take any of them as her Padawan if she had stayed to become a Jedi Knight.

However, Ahsoka couldn't help but shiver inwardly at the thought that all would be lost at Order 66...

* * *

Anakin pretty much woke up late. Like, very late. Obi-wan wasn't here to chase him out of his quarters or whack him out bed as he usually did during missions (usually involving Rex or Cody as well).

He sat up groggily in his bed, his brain restarting and yesterday's events rushed back into his mind.

Ahsoka.

He ran out of his room and went to check the bedroom next-door. It was empty.

A sense of dread filled his heart. It was all a dream, wasn't it? As if Ahsoka would come back, he told himself dejectedly. He ruffled his messy hair and stumbled into the living room, when he found a hastily-written note taped to the corner of the dining table.

 _Hey there Skyguy,_

 _Out for a walk. Gonna be back later. See ya!_

 _Ahsoka :)_

Relief flooded through him. Thank goodness. It wasn't a dream. He reached out throughout the Force and found Ahsoka's presence amongst... Jedi younglings?

There was only one place she could be at. Anakin went hastily to the refresher to change and ran out.

* * *

Apparently Kanan felt like Ezra was so worn out after the disastrous language lesson, so he decided to bring him to one of the places he liked best to hang out when he was a kid. The Jedi hangar bays.

The open space and the large view that looked out to the skyline of the Coruscant calmed him. He had no idea why, but he really liked the vast space of the busy city.

' We are going somewhere. One of the favourite places of mine, the hangar bays,' Kanan explained, leading Ezra towards the tower.

Ezra repeated, ' Hangar bays?'

' Yeah, where the Jedi dock all their fighters and speeders. I think it is big enough to hold at least a hundred ships the size of the Ghost. And there is this large window thing that can let you look out to the entire skyline of Coruscant. Believe me, it is really beautiful,' Kanan smiled.

Ezra did the math in his head. A hundred Ghost ships. Wow. ' That must be huge.'

' Of course, like, really huge. Look, here it is.'

Ezra forgot how to breath. It was a giant- No, giant wasn't enough to describe the room in front of him. Rows upon rows of planes were parked, and astromech droids were whirring around them, repairing damages. Some Jedi preferred to fix their own fighters, so a few could be seen lying under their fighters, faces smeared with grease and hands busy with work.

Right at the far end, was a large opening on the wall where the fighters would leave through. Through that, Ezra could see the entire skyline of Coruscant. Kanan was right. It was beautiful.

He had never seen so many speeders or ships in the sky at the same time, encircling buildings like a dance. Thousands upon thousands of skyscrapers stood proudly amongst each other, the exterior catching the light from the sky, gleaming like shards of diamonds.

' Told you. Whenever I am in a bad mood, I come here to sulk. And my mood will be improved,' Kanan chuckled. ' And-'

His voice faltered. Ezra followed his line of sight, and found himself looking at a ship close by. It seems like Caleb had finished his lightsaber lesson, because his Master and him were standing next it. And Depa Billaba was talking quickly to a red-armoured clone commander, while Caleb toyed around with his lightsaber. The commander nodded and walked away.

' A clone,' Kanan said murderously, clenching his jaw so hard that Ezra was sure that his teeth were cracking under all the pressure. His fingers were hovering over his lightsaber, threatening to ignite it.

Ezra put a hand on Kanan's arm. He understood Kanan's displeasure and disgust at the clones, but hey. They were clones after all. As soldiers they were designed to follow orders. And he remembered Ahsoka telling him about some clone commanders she had worked with the other day... The one called... Rex? He didn't participate in Order 66.

' Kanan, they are just clones. They have done nothing yet,' Ezra coaxed.

' _Nothing?'_ Kanan snapped. ' But oh yeah, they will in the future, so that basically is the same.'

' Ahsoka did say some didn't participate in Order 66, so not all of them are bad. Like, you can't generalise them as bad guys.'

' You don't understand, Ezra. You weren't there in person, but I was there to witness their ultimate betrayal. We trusted them so much, treated them like brother in arms, fought side by side in countless wars. _But they turned their backs against us and killed my Master without a second thought_. She trusted them so much and they killed her.'

Ezra bit his lip, ' I understand well, Kanan. But... It hasn't happened yet in this timeline. It just isn't fair to hate them for something that is inevitable. They are just tools used by the Empire to destroy the Jedi. It is really the Empire's fault.'

Kanan stomped away without a second thought, leaving Ezra behind. Ezra sighed. It would be so hard to convince Kanan that the clones weren't all bad. Maybe it would work with a little help from Ahsoka's optimism. Maybe.

 **Heeeeeeellllloooooo! I am still alive! :DDD (now very long AN ahead, so if you don't have time to read or are too annoyed to read, skip it :P )**

 **Yes, exams are coming and I have my first day of exam on Thursday... Starring English Language and Science (which consists of Physics, Chemistry and Biology in one single paper). Let's hope that I won't die because I had a hard time memorising all the stuff about metabolism. As for English Grammar... I have absolutely no idea how to revise. My friends are saying, ' We are revising for English Grammar everyday!' and I was like,' Huh? How on earth am I going to revise for that?' So yeah, I am still figuring how to revise for English Grammar (though I rely purely on my instincts). Any ideas? *laugh-cry face***

 **Now allow me to fangirl for a few moments to de-stress: HAVE YOU GUYS SEEN THE SNEAK-PEAKS FOR THE COMING EPISODE FOR STAR WARS REBELS, LIKE FUTURE OF THE FORCE? IT IS SO AWESOME, MAN! THERE IS GONNA BE SO MANY ACTION, AND MORE LIGHTSABER DUELLING WHOOOHOOOOO!**

 **Buuuuuut...**

 **Calm down, Happy Doodle. You will be writing your exam paper when it comes out. *starts crying and screaming in agony at my classmate that she thought I was going mad* That was the conversation between she and I:**

 **Me: WHAAAAAAT!?**

 **Friend: What the what? What is going on?**

 **Me: noooooooooooooooo the latest episode is going to come out on the first day of exam! WHHHHHHHY! WHHY?**

 **Friend: ... You are taking a TV show too seriously.**

 **Me: It is not just a TV show! It is part of my life! :O**

 **Friend: Uhhhhh fiiiine. I'll leave you here for now.**

 **Okay. This is the end of the seemingly endless AN. Next chapter will hopefully be out by this weekend. Stay tuned and thanks for your support :)**


	15. Chapter 15

' Katooni, try gripping a tad bit lower, yes, like this,' Ahsoka instructed the young girl, who was concentrating on correcting her lightsaber grip. ' Does that feel better?'

Katooni swung her lightsaber, and grinned widely, ' Yeah, it felt a lot better. Thanks a lot!'

' You are welcome. You know, the way you grip your lightsaber is very important, because it controls how much weight you take on, meaning how long it would take to exhaust you. And keep your fingers away from the blade emitter, unless you want accidents. Is that clear?' Ahsoka advised.

The others looked up from their practicing and nodded.

' Ahsoka, you are a really good teacher,' Luminara complimented. ' You seem to grow into a more patient lady.'

' Gee thanks, but I'll still bicker with Anakin if I can, because he can be too annoying and cocky sometimes. You know, he is just one big kid,' Ahsoka said with a smirk while Luminara stifled a giggle.

' HEY I HEARD THAT!' A grumpy voice rumbled behind them. It was Anakin. He had somehow traced Ahsoka's Force signature all the way to the Youngling class. The kids' eyes widened in awe at the sight of their war hero (hey who doesn't know the Hero with No Fear and his calmer Master, the Negotiator). ' M-m-m-master Skywalker!' They bowed.

Anakin deliberately ignored them and rounded on Ahsoka. ' Why hello there, Skyguy, didn't spot you,' Ahsoka said jauntily, planting a hand on her hip.

' So,' He said in a dangerous voice. ' I heard your _compliment_ all the way out there. I think that you should learn how to respect your elders, Snips. Didn't Rex teach you that a little respect can go a long way?'

' How many times have I told you? Technically I am older than you and-' She held up a hand to stop what was coming next. ' Don't go all _experience_ and _ranking_ stuff at me again, please. It's a bit overdone and it doesn't work. Plus, you will have to admit what I said is true. Is that right, Master Unduli?'

Luminara was just standing there, watching the verbal fight between the two with mild interest. She didn't reply and simply smiled nicely at them. Then, she exited the conversation and went back to instructing Gungi.

' Oho! I knew Master Unduli would be on my side!'

' No way! She is on my side! She is just busy.'

' Stop being a sore loser and admit you are wrong.'

' No way! It's true that you are one big kid!'

' Say that again, Snips, and I'll-'

Their argument was stopped by a series of beeping, coming from the comlink on Anakin's wrist. He grimaced and held the speaker to his face, ' Skywalker here.'

' Anakin,' Obi-wan's calm voice came out from the comlink. ' I presume that you are having one of those useless and endless bickering with Ahsoka again?'

' What makes you think so?' Anakin groaned, exasperated.

' Uh, from experience? I don't think Ahsoka or you will let go of any opportunity to initiate a _debate_. Whatever. We are not discussing about that. You will have to continue whatever argument later when we come back, because the Council has requested for our presence, you know, about our report?'

' Oh yes.'

' Yeah, meet me outside the Council Room and we'll pop in together. Mind you, it may take long. I expect that it will take at least 2 hours.'

Anakin groaned.

' Do mine ears deceive me or do I hear a groan?'

' No, Master.'

' You know what, if your argument-topic-of-the-day lies on the category of "whether Anakin is a big kid", do tell Ahsoka that I agree 100% with her. I don't think you will ever grow up. See you then. Kenobi signing off.'

Anakin ran out of the room in embarrassment and anger before Ahsoka could laugh madly at him.

* * *

Ezra walked alone, back to his shared quarters. Thank goodness he had a good memory, or else he would find himself hopelessly lost in all the cross-roads. Plus, it wasn't very nice of Kanan to abandon him in the middle of the hangar bay.

He was turning the final corner, when he spotted Kanan's former Master, Depa Billaba walking in his direction.

' Master,' He nodded politely, addressing the Jedi Master.

' Ezra Bridger. I remember you,' Depa smiled warmly. ' The young, talented boy Caleb took as his Padawan.'

' Er, I am not talented,' Ezra blushed.

Depa ignored him and continued, ' I want to hear more from you. Mind going for a walk with me?'

' Sure. But what about Caleb?'

' He has Politics lesson for the next two hours, whether he likes it or not,' She shrugged. ' Come with me.'

They trudged along the corridors peacefully.

' So, young Ezra Bridger. Tell me, do you find Caleb different from Kanan? I know that is the name he calls himself in the future,' She asked.

Ezra hesitated. And he said, ' Um, to be honest, I find it hard to make the connections. Caleb is so energetic, bright and hyperactive, but Kanan on the other hand is quiet, mature and somewhat serious. They are totally like two different people. So the first time I saw Caleb, I can't help but feel a little disoriented.'

' I see,' Depa nodded. ' I agree with you. But I do think there is one striking similarity. I sense that he has attachments. You do know the Jedi Code well, don't you?'

Ezra nodded, recalling the Code Kanan had once told him and made him remember. He remembered Jedi were not supposed to form attachments, not even with parents. They were not supposed to marry or date. The least they could have was a Padawan-Master attachment, but still, it was rare. Ezra thought it was quite lame. Because he too had attachments on Kanan, Hera, Zeb and Sabine (maybe even good old Chopper if he is in a good mood), they were all his family.

' I can tell Caleb is rather attached to me and all the other clones he works with. And now, I can tell Kanan is attached to you as well,' Depa said, and paused when he saw Ezra blush. ' Oh, yes. He cares a lot about you. And... Not that I disapprove of attachments, I sometimes think that the Jedi code... May not be as correct as most of think it is. So I am quite happy to see that Kanan kept this up. Suitable amounts of attachment can be beneficial. Look at Skywalker. It is his passion that makes him such a formidable warrior.'

Ezra looked down at his boots, his mind silently agreeing with Depa Billaba.

 **Exams are in progress! Ahhhhh! :OOOOOOO**

 **PS: STAR WARS REBELS IS GOING TO CONTINUE! THERE IS SEASON 3! :DDD (THROWS BALLOONS IN AIR AND ALLOW MYSELF TO PARTY EVEN THOUGH I AM SUPPOSED TO BE IN EXAM MOOD) Here is an extract of a conversation I had with my friend (yes the same one I talked to in the last chapter) and this time there is Friend Number 2:**

 **Me: *SCREAMS LIKE A PIG WHEN I SAW THE NEWS AND WEEPS IN JOY***

 **Friend: Oh goodness. Are you alright? Is there a problem with the Biology notes?**

 **Me: STAR WARS REBELS IS GOING TO HAVE SEASON 3! WHEEEEEE!**

 **Friend: Oh good lord. You know, you shouldn't be fangirling in such terrible times. You ought to be revising.**

 **Me: WHEEEEEEEEEE! *and starts to cry***

 **Friend 2: Is there something wrong? I hear screaming.**

 **Friend: Obviously.**

 **Yep, that's it. I definitely hope that Season 3 will keep being awesome, because Season 2 is really amazing. Especially we can see Ezra's lightsaber skills have improved a lot and we can finally see Ahsoka's white/silver lightsaber in action! :)**


	16. Chapter 16

Ezra and Depa Billaba parted ways after a brief but nice conversation. He was wandering all the way back to his quarters and found Kanan sitting on the floor, eyes closed and deep in meditation. He opened an eye to acknowledge Ezra's return and returned back to his own bubble of thought.

' You know, it is not very gentlemanly or masterly of you to leave your poor apprentice behind at the unfamiliar hangar bays and expect that he knows all the way back to here,' Ezra planted his hands on his hips.

Kanan's eyes were still closed, ' But you came back, didn't you?'

' What?' Ezra exclaimed. ' What if I had a memory span of goldfish? You can't expect that I know my way around, man. You're expecting too much from me.'

Kanan didn't answer.

' Hey, I know you are upset about the clones, but really, they are not that evil,' Ezra sighed and plopped right next to Kanan.

No response.

' Fine. Are you going to sit here forever? I am hungry.'

' I am not hungry.'

' C'mon! You don't want food doesn't mean I don't want food! I am hungry! A growing boy needs his food to grow! I don't want to stay a midget forever just because you have a bad mood.'

' You are 1.65 meters, Ezra. That's not a midget height. Plus, when we are on Lothal, we often skip meals. So I see no problem in skipping lunch.'

Ezra groaned and was pretty much ready to wrestle Kanan out of his sitting position, when their door slid open to reveal a puzzled Ahsoka with half a dozen clone troopers behind her.

' Um, what are you doing?' She asked, and Ezra blushed, hauling himself from an awkward crouch to stand.

Kanan opened his eyes finally and scowled, as if expecting Ahsoka to help reprimand at Ezra as well,' Ezra here demands to have _lunch_.'

' Wow what a coincidence! Me and the men want to have lunch too. You know, they are getting bored of the food in the mess hall and Admiral Yularen's cooking,' Ahsoka clapped her hands together excitedly. ' Let's go together, Dex's Diner, how's that?'

' Oh yeah cool!' Ezra beamed and turned to Kanan. ' You going as well?'

But instead of replying, Kanan stared in abject horror at the bunch of men fanned out behind Ahsoka, all carrying their brightly painted blue and white helmet under their arm.

' If you don't want to, it is okay. You can stay here, but Ezra will be coming with us,' Ahsoka waved off Kanan lightly. ' Let me introduce the 501st men to you. This is Rex, Fives, Tup, Jesse, Kix, Hawk and Echo. The others wish to come too, but they have duty somewhere else. So... This is only a part of the Legion. But we're going to have lots of fun without General Skywalker. He basically doesn't allow us to drink anything stronger than caff.'

' And caff is not strong at all,' Rex added. ' We had to drink blue milk all day long.'

' After one whole month of Admiral Yularen's cooking, I am ready to devour one whole plate of pizza,' Kix rubbed his stomach happily.

' And General Skywalker's cooking too,' Hawk sighed. ' I don't think my tastebuds are the same after that soup.'

' I drank an entire pint of water after the soup. I don't think anyone managed to hold the soup down,' Tup added.

' I did,' Echo said proudly.

' The soup wasn't that bad actually,' Jesse argued. ' You should have eaten that cake. Rex and I had to eat the entire thing on our own.'

' I think I like Commander Tano's cooking better than General Skywalker's,' Fives said thoughtfully, his mind wandering to the totally scorched soufflé Ahsoka had presented to the entire 501st Legion (all of the men stuffed themselves full despite that, in order to please the young, snippy commander and mostly because the General was glaring at them from behind the Commander, as if daring them to spit it out).

' Nice to meet you all,' Ezra smiled, already liking the clones and looked at Kanan's mortified expression at the very thought of Ezra befriending all these clones. _This is going to be fun_.

* * *

Half an hour later, Ezra found himself jammed into the corner of a very busy diner in the middle of Coruscant, with a bunch of heavily armed clones and Ahsoka surrounding him.

Ezra had the feeling that the clones were literally starving, because Rex ordered so many things off the menu that he was certain he wouldn't be able to finish them all, despite his hunger.

Glasses of alcoholic juma juice were passed on to the clones while Kix made small jokes but Ahsoka ordered caff for Ezra and her. After several cautious sips, he decided that he liked the drink a lot.

Food arrived quickly. Ezra helped himself to some of the pot pie, and listened to the clones. Hawk was continuing his tale on the General's cooking, telling them about the last dinner they had in the battleship, the night before their return to Coruscant. Anakin had offered to cook. The whole meal was extremely strained and hasty, because none of the clones talked, because they were busy keeping themselves from puking out anything. Twice Fives nearly lost it, but Rex stepped on his foot with his boot, causing him to gasp and swallow in pain. They all left the table at the same time, rushing back to their dorms to fight over Echo's remaining secret stash of biscuits he had sneaked aboard (the only clone trooper who had the foresight to sneak in extra resources).

(General Skywalker had no idea. But he did walk past the closed doors of the clone dorms, hearing muffled talking with mouths full and munching, but didn't bother to check at all because he reckoned it was nothing)

Ezra couldn't help but grin. It sounded a bit like him whenever Zeb offered to cook. Kanan and Hera managed to keep the food down and can even manage second helpings. Ezra could only eat one helping plus Sabine's extra food because she usually just ate a couple spoonfuls, turned green and announced to the whole room, ' My room desperately needs a new coating of paint. See ya! Ezra, finish my soup.' Then Ezra had to grin (sweating slightly), called upon the Force to calm himself down and gulp down the remaining meal.

The tale deserved one whole round of laughter and Echo shouted over the noise, ' They were my biscuits! My biscuits! You ate all of my biscuits!'

Ezra nearly jumped out of his skin when Rex addressed him directly, ' So, this little one over here. What's your name again?'

' Ezra, Ezra Bridger,' He stuttered, aware that everyone was looking at him.

' Nice to meet you, Ezra,' Fives said nicely. ' What do you feel about Coruscant? I understand you are from Lothal.'

' Um, really good place,' Ezra panicked. ' Nice people, nice Temple and really nice friends.'

That earned him a round of laughter.

' Ezra is shy,' Ahsoka teased him lightly.

' NO I AM NOT, I am just caught by surprise,' Ezra blushed dark red.

More laughter.

 **Hellloooooooo...**

 **Exams are raging on, and I have just managed to finish the maths exams today (no comment :/ ). I need to write two sets of papers tomorrow, and the two subjects require the maximum amount of handwriting in the most limited time(why on earth do people arrange these two subjects together?). So I'll probably be suffering from severe arm pain for the next couple of days (thanks to my incorrect writing posture that can cause me to have arm pain if I write for two consecutive hours). :(**

 **Anyways... Can't wait to get rid of the exams so I can go all Star Wars mood and get ready for Force Awakens. :D**

 **PS: Echo is still here because... *bursts into tears* (yeah I know he is back in A Distant Echo, but still...)**


	17. Chapter 17

Clones... Were not that bad. Really.

Ezra had been brought up (or more like half-brainwashed by Kanan) to consider Clones as evil, rebel-hunting machines that felt nothing, or perhaps a little slow, because he distinctly remembered the bewildered exclamation of a stormtrooper (' You did all of this for _fruit_?!') At his time, stormtroopers actually had the same cloning template as clones. Ahsoka did leave an important impression on Ezra, that maybe... clones were totally different from stormtroopers.

He still had his doubts when Kanan expressed his strong displeasure at the sight of clones and horror at the prospect of Ezra befriending them, but all of these questions vanished immediately when he was introduced to Ahsoka's own legion, the cheerful 501st. They didn't even resemble stormtroopers. In order to have solid proof, Ezra went down a mental list inside his head with Kanan's disapproving voice echoing down his mind as they ate.

Do they have white armour? _Nope, their armour are blue and white. Plus, the_ _helmet looks customisable and kind of cool._

Are they rebel-hunting machines? _Nope, more like rebel-befriending people. At least that could be confirmed by shouting ' Down with the Galactic Empire!' and see if they shoot you._

Do they seem more machine than man? _Nope. Definitely not._

Do they seem cloned? _No, definitely not! They even have names from themselves! And various personalities._

Wait. Are they even called stormtroopers? _Obviously not._

Ezra pictured going through the list with Kanan. The older man would not be happy. At all.

But hey. He shouldn't blame Kanan. After all, Depa Billaba was right. Kanan's attachment for clones too led to this pain of betrayal. But Ezra still wished that Kanan could see how different they were from Stormtroopers. He made a point in his head to ask Ahsoka about the background of clones later. The woman seemed to know more than she would let on them.

And he found himself admiring the painted helmets of the clones. They were all painted in various designs as an identification. He imagined a scene where the clones were staying in an art room with rows upon rows of spray paint, spray painting their helmets, wearing an expression of deep concentration (that the Ghost crew jokingly called the Sabine-Is-Thinking-About-What-To-Draw expression). Sabine would be jealous of the unlimited supply of spray paint.

When they had dessert, Ezra found himself telling the clones about life on Lothal, minus the Empire, Rebels and Stormtrooper chase (which was basically everything). Instead, he wove a different but yet similar story in order to avoid all the sensitive points). Instead of revealing the part about the speeder chase when he first met the Crew, he told them that he had met the Ghost Crew during his training on Lothal. He spoke highly of the Crew (even dear old Chopper who liked to lob cans at him for entertainment) and only realised how attached he was to the Ghost Crew (forget about the Jedi Code).

He showed them his lightsaber. All of them were impressed at the design. When Rex asked why he shaped his lightsaber like that, he had embarrassedly admitted that he had no other materials. However, that didn't waver the clones admiration for the blaster-lightsaber.

They left the Diner two hours later, and Ezra had never been so full in his entire life. Not even after eating Sabine's extra dinner. Rex and Ahsoka were extremely hospitable, stuffing Ezra full by dishing him plates after plates of steamy food until he couldn't eat another mouthful anymore.

When they returned to the Temple, talking loudly and joking, Ezra found Kanan waiting for them at the entrance, looking slightly mad. He hauled Ezra over to his side by grabbing him by his shoulder, eyed the clones as if they were some sort of strange disease, and stormed away.

The 501st clones looked at each other and frowned at the man's weird behaviour. Ahsoka sighed and waved them down. They quickly forgot about Kanan and started chatting in a lively manner again, walking all the way back to the clones barracks.

And they found Anakin and Obi-wan waiting for them outside. The men immediately sprung into serious business mode while Ahsoka kept her casual face.

' Where _have_ you been?' Anakin scowled.

' Oh man. I am not a kid anymore, Skyguy. We just went to Dex's Diner for lunch. You know, the men deserve good food after the terrible long missions and wars,' Ahsoka patted the man on the shoulder lightly. Obi-wan noticed with much amusement that Ahsoka had grown much taller.

The men nodded in approval.

' WHAT? You guys went out for lunch without me? Oh, how brotherly,' Anakin feigned being offended. ' Plus, it is not like the men don't get good food when they go for missions. They all love Yularen and my cooking, don't they?'

All of them turned a sickly shade of green at his words and Kix turned so green that he resembled a much larger version of Master Yoda. Rex nearly dropped his helmet in surprise. ' Um, uh, yeah, haha,' Fives gulped.

' We, uh, love your cooking!' Tup said, his tone having a panicky edge.

' Yeah yeah yeah,' Echo agreed, an invisible bead of sweat falling down his forehead.

Hawk grinned jauntily, ' It, uh, rivals Dex's cooking! Good job, General!'

Obi-wan and Ahsoka stifled a laugh. Both of them had a lot of experience with Anakin's cooking.

' Aw, we all _looooooooooooove_ your cooking, Skyguy,' Ahsoka chirped. ' But we all want proper Coruscant food, don't we? Space food can bore us out, uh, no offence to your maaaaaaaasterful cooking.'

The men jumped onto Ahsoka's suggestion gratefully and started nodding vigorously. Obi-wan tried hard to keep a straight face.

Anakin didn't look entirely convinced, but grumbled, ' Huh. In that case, Obi-wan and I will be going out for our very late lunch.'

' I'm not going to Dex's. I ate there for three weeks in a row before heading to that mission, and I don't think I can take up another of those burgers. Can we go somewhere else?' Obi-wan said.

' No way! I wanna go to Dex's!' Anakin's eyes widened in annoyance.

' Be considerate for your poor Master.'

' Ahsoka and the men went to Dex. I wanna go to Dex's too! That's soooo unfair!'

The two continued bickering like crazy and started to walk away from the huddled group.

' That was awkward,' Tup said after the two men turned the corner, but their raised voices could still be heard.

Rex wondered, ' Will General Skywalker and General Kenobi _ever_ stop bickering?'

' Will our beloved Captain Rex and Commander Cody _ever_ stop bickering?' Fives joked.

' Hey!' Rex said, offended and started to chase Rex, while the rest continued to laugh.

 **You did all this for fruit?! Haha, this line makes me laugh no matter how many times I hear it.**

 **Yep, I know I updated just yesterday, but since I don't have exams tomorrow, I might just update again. Hehehehe... I don't really have an update schedule. Thanks for all the reviews! :D :D**

 **My hand literally felt like lead after the two papers and throbbed for an entire hour. Oh well. At least the two most demanding papers are gone... -.-**

 **The tiring exams are finally going to end on FRIDAY! (It's Friday, Friday...) My classmates all have plans, either going to Disneyland or trampoline parks but my good friend and I foresee a Star Wars weekend. Yes. The same friend (she is a great fan of the prequel and original trilogy, but I have been trying to get her to watch Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels). Again. Who loyally listens to all my fandom rants but thinks I am too obsessed with fandoms.**

 **Friend: Any plans for the exam-free weekend?**

 **Me: Certainly. I foresee an entire Star wars weekend.**

 **Friend: The original trilogy?**

 **Me: Yeah. Plus prequels. And don't forget about Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels too!**

 **Friend: You are really too obsessed-**

 **Me: Hey! I am not the only one here who is obsessed with Star Wars! What about you? You are as obsessed as I am!**

 **Friend: ... Point taken.**


	18. Chapter 18

The most awkward silence. Ever.

Ezra couldn't adapt to the sudden climatic change, no, sudden atmosphere or mood change at once. The last minute, he was chatting happily with a bunch of clones and Ahsoka under the beautiful sunshine, the next minute he was being hauled back to his dark room with Kanan, which wasn't a very good conclusion to his day at all. He had expected something better to end his wonderful day (not counting the lesson in the morning).

Then, he found himself sitting next to Kanan on the sofa, nothing to say at all.

He had nearly fallen asleep, when their quarter's door slid open, revealing Ahsoka. ' May I come in?'

' Sure,' Kanan said, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. ' Take a seat.'

Ahsoka plopped down quietly next to the pair, and after a while, she said softly, ' Have I ever told you about the inhibitor chips, Kanan?'

' Excuse me?' Kanan looked at Ahsoka, broken out of his little bubble of thought.

' Inhibitor chips,' she repeated.

' Uh, no,' Kanan mumbled, startled. ' What with the inhibitor chips?'

' The inhibitor chips programmed in the clones' heads,' Ahsoka explained. ' Ever heard about them?'

Ezra had a feeling of where the conversation would head to, and was madly making up excuses to leave the room.

Kanan scoffed, ' _Oh yeah_ , the chips. Some of the clones I encountered told me afterwards about that. _As if_ it is true, they are liars, Ahsoka. If it is true, I am probably the next Emperor of the Galactic Empire.'

' I would not be so quick with my judgements if I were you, Kanan,' Ahsoka said grimly. ' I trust Rex. One day when I was out there trying to hack Empire Intel, I received a transmission from Seelos. To my surprise, it was Rex, along with Wolffe and Gregor. They told me that when clones were first developed in Kamino, the developers had inhibitor chips placed into the clones' head in order to control their movement, probably some sort of Separatist plan by Dooku. Programmed in it are a complete set of orders to exterminate all Jedi, and it will be activated at the words "Execute Order 66." '

' And you believe them?' Kanan said incredulously, staring at Ahsoka as if she was kidding. ' They could be lying, you know. They are dangerous.'

' Yes, I thought the same at first, and I demanded for proof out of suspicion. Later, Rex sent me a copy of the same chip removed from his head, and when I retrieved the information from there, they were all precise orders and heavy programming to exterminate the Jedi. It was true. I was so horrified,' Ahsoka sighed. ' There is no blocking and no preventing, unless you take it out. They are forced to bend to the will of the chip until all Jedi are killed, like some sort of endless killing controller.'

Ezra and Kanan sat there, stunned.

' So Kanan... Please don't blame them. The inhibitor chip rumour is true.'

Kanan seemed to have found his voice and laughed harshly, ' Ha, if they knew they got killer chips in their heads, _why didn't they tell the others_ , huh? Why? Is it some sort of cruel joke or what? Leaving us to die in misery?'

' One of our men called Fives knew, just by chance when there was a chip malfunction. It was a premature activation of Order 66 and one of our men killed Master Tiplar. He conducted the investigation of the assassination and somehow knew about the contents inside the chip. But well... No one believed him, dismissed it as a cock and bull story, in the end, Fives got gunned down,' Ahsoka shrugged. ' Even if they told others, will anyone believe them? No. Absolutely not. They'd think they're crazy. Till now, Rex is still guilty why they didn't listen in the first place.'

Ezra hushed in horror, ' That's... Stupid. Why... Wouldn't anyone trust Fives? If they trusted him, then... Then...'

' Because it sounds so surreal and ridiculous, Ezra. You must understand that. Besides, who Fives is accusing of is the Chancellor of the Republic himself. It's just so impossible, that the so loved Chancellor would be behind all the Separatist plots,' Ahsoka crossed her arms.

' _The Emperor_ ,' Kanan gritted his teeth in silent fury. His face almost resembled an ashy grey marble sculpture.

' There are a million people you can blame in this world for the downfall of the Jedi, but don't blame the clones. They don't have a choice,' Ahsoka shook her head. ' No. It is... As if they even had a choice to be created in the first place. They were just created as models.'

' Poor Fives,' Ezra said grimly. He liked the man.

' I'll leave you here to think, Kanan,' Ahsoka patted Kanan on the shoulder gingerly. ' You'll need some time to swallow this down. Ezra, look after him.'

She stood up and walked out of the room.

After another hour of absolute silence in the dark, Kanan seemed to have healed up pretty nicely. He turned to Ezra with an evil grin, his eyes glinting maliciously in the dark, ' Ezra. You had better go to bed early tonight. You still have a lesson with Caleb tomorrow. I think you'll need some rest. You know what, I'll try to make you some caff next morning before you go out.'

Ezra groaned inwardly. _Why can't he stay silent for a little bit longer?_

* * *

Anakin held a holoprojector in his hand and contacted his wife. He hadn't had the chance to contact her at all after returning, and she must be worried sick. He had a feeling that she would be extremely murderous at him for forgetting to contact her at all.

Padme appeared as a tiny blue holo in his hand, ' Ani! Thank goodness you are safe. Have you returned from the mission?'

' Oh...' Anakin scratched the back of his head. ' I returned yesterday.'

' WHAT? ANAKIN SKYWALKER, YOU COULD HAVE TOLD ME YESTERDAY!' She chastised him. ' I SPENT AN EXTRA 24 HOURS WORRYING IF YOU AND OBI-WAN ARE STRANDED OFF SOMEWHERE ON SOME STRANGE PLANET AGAIN! WHAT WOULD I DO IF YOU DIED?'

' I didn't die, did I?'

' You better hope that I am in a good mood next time I see you, Skywalker. I don't like your attitude,' She feigned an angry glare.

' I'm sorry, Angel... But I am caught up with... A surprise,' He tried for an innocent smile. ' You'd be delighted to hear the news too. Bet you won't be angry with me for forgetting to call you when I tell you.'

' It'd better be good. Surprise me.'

' Guess who turned up at the Jedi Temple yesterday?' Anakin grinned at his wife.

 **EXAMS ARE OVER! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!**

 **My friend and I went to watch MockingJay Part 2 in the cinema right after school (we would have watched Force Awakens if there was Force Awakens). No spoilers, but I had so many mini heart attacks even though I have read the books and know the plot. And then I took selfies with the stormtrooper decoration outside the cinema. :P**

 **Oh well. Results are not going to come out until January, so I might just relax and go on Christmas mood now.**


	19. Chapter 19

' Is it... Ferus?'

' No... Definitely not! I hate that guy!'

After several guesses, Anakin was so sure they would never get to the actual surprise. He had Padme guess who came back to the Temple, but it seemed like his wife had no idea who really did.

' Let me see... Is it 3PO?'

' No... Angel... 3PO is with you. Besides, it is not really a surprise even if he comes to the Temple.'

' Um, R2D2?'

' Angel. R2 is with me.'

' Oh well. Is it Jar Jar then?'

Anakin rubbed his temples in exasperation at the thought of JarJar Binks visiting the Temple. He imagined the Gungan screaming ' _Mesa JarJar Binks! Mesa JarJar!'_ at the top of his lungsagain and again, while jumping over the Council chairs like some hyperactive kid and burping. It wasn't a pretty sight. Mace Windu or Obi-wan won't be pleased. At all.

Padme said, totally annoyed, ' I gave you at least 20 educated guesses already. It isn't Ferus Olin, it isn't JarJar Binks, it isn't Chancellor Palpatine and I still can't hit the right one. What is that then?'

' Fine, I'll just break the surprise,' Anakin sighed. ' It's _Ahsoka_.'

The Senator of Naboo probably made the most unsophisticated squeak in her entire life, clapping a hand to her mouth at the same time, ' _Ahsoka_? As in _Ahsoka Tano_?'

Anakin nodded excitedly.

' Oh! That's wonderful!' Padme cried out. ' Is she coming back or something?'

' It is just a brief visit,' Anakin said, sounding a little depressed.

' Um, don't be sad, Ani. It's better than nothing at all,' Padme said. ' Oh gosh! I must see her! You must bring her here! It's been so long.'

' Of course, my dear. Probably first thing tomorrow.'

' You know what? Bring her to the Senate building. I have a Senate meeting from noon until 3 about allocating resources to a Republic weapons factory tomorrow. Maybe we can go back to my apartment together and we can have dinner.'

' Sure. We'll come around 2. Love you!' Anakin deactivated his holoprojector, and smiled.

* * *

As promised... Ezra found himself sitting amongst Padawans with Caleb again inside the stuffy classroom.

Kanan did live to his promise. When Ezra woke up that morning, he went up to the dining table to find a steaming pot of caff waiting for him. Taped onto the pot was a note:

 _Hello there Ezra!_

 _I did leave a pot of caff for you, and it will definitely give you some energy to withstand this morning's lesson. You'll need it. So drink it up, when it is hot!_

 _By the way, I have gone to the Room of a Thousand Fountains to meditate. If you have finished lesson and can't find me back here, come find me._

 _Best wishes,_

 _Kanan :)_

If the somehow ominous sounding note didn't cheer up Ezra's spirit, the hastily scribbled smiley-face did. Ezra drank down the steaming caff and trudged down the corridors, right into the beginning to lesson.

Thankfully, the teacher didn't seem to want them to discuss, because she just distributed some reading materials onto the holopads. So for the first twenty minutes, the class began to read the poem in silence.

It wasn't really that hard, so Ezra had no problem with understanding. It was a poem describing the night sky view of Coruscant, how all the twinkling lights coming from the flying ships and speeders form a beautiful pattern. Ezra had to agree it was one beautiful piece.

However, Caleb didn't seem to think so. He finished reading the entire thing in bionic speed, and proceeded to sleep soundly on the table. Soon, his snores were so loud that the entire class noticed. The nerdy looking Padawan behind them sent Caleb a scandalised glare.

Master Palmer cleared her throat, ' Padawan Dume. Padawan Dume.'

Caleb didn't even budge. Ezra stepped on his foot and he shot upwards, awake.

' Padawan Dume. Now that you recovered... From your little nap,' Master Palmer looked at him. ' May I ask you to tell the entire class about the writing technique demonstrated in this poem?'

And the said boy did the unexpected. Instead of opening his mouth to answer, he startled the entire class by Force-jumping right onto the table. The next thing that happened, Caleb began to make strange noises, rolling around and crumpling all the pieces of paper on Ezra's table. Books, Holopads and everything inside the room started to levitate into the air. Everyone in vicinity tried hard to dodge the flying Holopads, and rushed to take refuge at the wall.

Before Ezra could escape, he was caught up in the gale of Force as well, and was thrown face first into the wall along with his chair and landed with a sickening crack onto the floor, next to a terrified Twi'lek Padawan. It was almost like the time when the Sith Lord used the Force to fling him away.

Master Palmer panicked, and ran forwards immediately, skilfully dodging a whizzing Holopad and grabbed Caleb by the scruff of his robes. Immediately, everything fell back to the floor with a thud.

' PADAWAN DUME! EXPLAIN FOR YOUR ACTIONS!' The Master seemed to have lost her patience and forgotten about the Jedi code.

' Jedi Code, Master,' Caleb said, unfazed and at his words, she fumed angrily.

Meanwhile, a couple of Padawans surged forward to Ezra's crash-site. A concerned looking boy heaved the chair away from Ezra and with the help of a couple others, they flipped Ezra over. ' Oh Force, are you alright? I say you fall face-first into the wall,' The Twi'lek girl seemed to have calmed down. ' Do you need to go to the medbay?'

' No thanks,' Ezra groaned and rubbed his aching head. ' I've experienced worse. Thanks for helping anyways.' Then, with a jolt, he remembered what Kanan told him:

(Flashback)

' _That is not the most delightful one yet. Once when she called me up to tell the whole class about one particular writing technique, I spent the next half hour demonstrating how a bantha eats instead.'_

 _' You what?'_

 _' Yeah, I climbed onto the top of my desk, grunted and grovelled around, until all the desks around me and books are overturned using the Force. The others are cowering and running to the walls. Oh, and I remember one particular kid. He was thrown to the wall along with the chair he was sitting on. Can't really remember who he was but that kid was really terrified afterwards.'_

Ezra held a hand to his face. It was him. He was that kid. He did exist in one point in that timeline... But how much does Kanan actually remember? The whole time travel thing made him confused all over again.

' No really, I insist,' A red-haired boy inspected Ezra's throbbing face. ' I think we should really get you to the medbay to check for any bone breakage.' The other three Padawans lifted Ezra's arms.

' Master, I am explaining a form of writing technique. That is hyperbole and imagery. I demonstrated the use of these two techniques via imitation of a eating bantha. That is basically how the poem works,' Caleb said seriously.

' Detention, Padawan Dume! A week of scrubbing the archives with Master Jocasta Nu!' Palmer hissed. ' Everyday from 3 to 6 o clock!'

 **Mesa Jar Jar Binks!**

 **You know mesa actually means tableland as well? Last time I nearly had a panic attack when I saw the term in my geography exercise. _**

 **Oh and by the way, in case you don't know (and if you are interested), I have recently posted up a tie-in fic with this fic called 'The Destructive Sandwich'. It kind of belongs to the Season 5 finale and post Season 5 timeline of Clone Wars. :D so thanks!**


	20. Chapter 20

The Padawans got a stretcher out of nowhere and carried Ezra all the way to the medbay despite his many refusals, while Master Palmer kept chewing Caleb out and even threatened to suspend his Padawan status for a month as a punishment for ' _injuring or frightening fellow Padawans_ '.

They had a medical droid look Ezra over. After a series of scanning and poking, the droid said in its monotonous voice, ' You have sustained no serious injuries, but your forehead looks pretty bad. Do you find it painful?' It handed him a mirror out of nowhere.

On his forehead, was a lumpy, angry red welt the size of a fist.

' No,' Ezra gritted his teeth, anxious to leave at once. In fact, his entire body was sore too, but he didn't want to tell the droid.

' Oh no, kid,' A burly Padawan said, concerned. ' I think that should be treated, or else you will be sore during the entire day of activities. Can you suggest any treatments for that?'

' I suggest an ice pack on it for half an hour. When it is time to go, I can perhaps assign you an ointment,' The droid suggested, wheeled over to the freezer and got out a rectangular icepack. Though Ezra didn't want to be treated, the icepack felt really nice on his throbbing forehead.

The Twi'lek girl patted his shoulder, ' We'll have to go now, for our Masters will be looking for us. I think you had better lie down and rest for half an hour, then you will be fit to go.' Then the group flocked out of the medbay with loud chatters and discussion about the whole _chair-flying_ accident.

Then, it seemed like the accident spread like wildfire around the Temple within minutes, because Ezra found Padawans from other classes purposely walk past the medbay to take a good look at him. And the news spread fast enough to reach Kanan's ears, as he showed up at the medbay, out of breath and utterly embarrassed.

' Oh no, Ezra. How do you feel?' He pulled up a chair next to Ezra.

' What do you reckon? I got slammed to the wall with my chair!' Ezra said grumpily. ' By your younger self.'

' Really, I had no idea!' Kanan face-palmed. ' That kid was you? How come I can't remember at all? Oh goodness gracious. Anyways, I got the news from Master Billaba. She is extremely angry about it and asks me to tell you to forgive Caleb.'

' It was just an accident,' Ezra said. ' I heard that Caleb needs to go for a week's worth of detention.'

' Oh yes. But as I have said, thank goodness it is Master Jocasta Nu. She is really nice and doesn't really nag you even if you just roll around and do nothing,' Kanan shrugged. ' But how are you actually? No broken bones?'

' Just a bump on my head, and a really sore body,' Ezra pointed to his icepack. ' Anyways, I don't want to just lie down here. Maybe I'll just grab the ointment and run away.'

' Oh no, you can't,' Kanan crossed his arms. ' You should listen to the medical droid. Its opinions are the most professional and-'

' Ezra!' Ahsoka came rushing in, and stopped next to Ezra. ' When I got wind of the accident, I was so worried! But are you okay?'

' I'm fine,' Ezra said moodily. ' Except Kanan doesn't allow me to leave the medbay! I feel fine! I don't way to lie here forever! Half an hour is simply too much for just a single bruise!'

Kanan snapped, ' Let's make it _an hour_ then!' He stormed over to the medical droid who was shifting bandages in the medical cabinet, ' I authorise you to make that kid over there _stay_ for an hour. Oh, and change the ice pack once per half hour. Don't let him sneak away.'

' Of course, sir, I'll padlock the doors,' The droid promised (to Ezra's abject horror) and wheeled over to the door. ' But you two will have to leave.' It indicated to Kanan and Ahsoka.

' Kanan! An hour? Are you serious?' Ezra shouted at Kanan and Ahsoka's retreating back. But right before Ahsoka walked past the door, she turned her head to face Ezra, her head nodding upwards to indicate something on the ceiling to Ezra, gave him a discreet smile to let him know that she was on his side, and trudged away.

After the two guests left, the droid, true to its words, locked the doors. It wheeled over to Ezra, ' Sir, you must stay here. Your Master has asked me to lengthen your stay time to an hour. If you have any needs, do call me.'

The droid whizzed over to the bed across the aisle and began to sort out the piles of clothes beside a tiny drawer.

Ezra looked upwards in the exact direction Ahsoka had directed him to look at, and found himself staring at a vent. That could only mean one thing.

But the problem would be: How in the name of the Force would he be able to take away the vent cover unnoticed AND climb into it unnoticed?

He inspected the room while lying down to find that there was a small pantry-like thing at the far corner of the room. If he could get the droid to go that far... Maybe that would buy him some time.

So that was what he did. ' Excuse me, I'm a bit thirsty. Would you mind getting me some water?' Ezra tried to sound as innocent as possible.

' Certainly,' The droid answered and wheeled over to the room slowly.

Seizing the opportunity, Ezra used the Force to remove the cover of the vent, so that it could drop to the floor as silently as he could. He Force-jumped all the way up into the vent (thankfully he was able to squash through) not before taking the ointment on the bedside table with him. Then, he levitated the piece of cover and sealed it back on.

Great, he grinned. He had escaped. The next part would be to evade Kanan's capture. There was nowhere else to go. Perhaps... He could go find Ahsoka.

* * *

Ahsoka returned to her quarters after leaving the medbay.

She hoped that Ezra would get her soundless instruction. It had been based on her... uh, lifetime experience. When she was still a Padawan and every time she had injuries or went ill, Anakin would be so annoying and protective that it was totally unbearable.

She remembered the time when they returned from the Battle of Christophsis, her arms and legs were covered by scratches and bruises from her duel with the magnaguards, Anakin had made her go to the medbay as soon as they dropped off their transport (despite her many protests that she was okay).

In the end, when the medical droid looked away, she Force-jumped and destroyed the vent with her lightsaber (making no attempt to sneak out quietly at all). As a youngling, she used to spend her leisure time exploring all the secret passages within the Temple and the vent system was no exception. She knew the entire system like the back of her hand. After popping into the dark vent and relying on her lightsaber to provide light, she decided that it was time to put her stored knowledge to use. That was why minutes later, she scared Obi-wan Kenobi to death by popping down into his quarters unannounced from the ceiling vent. The Jedi Master seemed to immediately know what was going on, and good-naturedly offered to treat her injuries with his medical kit. She exited Obi-wan's room after having bacta spread on her scratches and bruises, just bumping into Anakin who was leading an army of clones on a wild goose chase for her. Let's say he wasn't very happy about it.

She trusted that Ezra would be smart enough to get the picture. Stifling a smile, she went to make herself some caff at the kitchen. Anakin hadn't woken up yet and stayed to his bed (thought it was already 10). Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

Ahsoka ran to open the door and found Obi-wan at the doorway. ' Oh, hello, Master Kenobi,' Ahsoka said politely. ' What's the matter?'

Obi-wan said cheerfully,' Nice to see you too Ahsoka, I'm just coming over to check if Anakin is alright. I didn't see him at breakfast, so... I was wondering...'

' Yes, Master,' Ahsoka shook her head with a light smile. ' He is still in bed. Do you want me to go wake him up?'

' No, it's okay, let him be,' Obi-wan told her. ' So... Have you heard about the escaped boy?'

' The what?' Ahsoka asked innocently.

' The escaped boy, like the Padawan of your friend Kanan. Do you know about that chair flying accident this morning in Master Palmer's language class?'

' Oh right, I have,' Ahsoka smiled sweetly. ' What's wrong though?'

' Yes, his Master is leading on a wild chase down the corridors for him. He has disappeared from the medbay, but it was locked. I think... That he may have-'

A metallic clutter interrupted Obi-wan's sentence. The next thing that followed was a loud 'WOAH' and a dull thump. There was an enraged bellow of pain afterwards.

Obi-wan and Ahsoka looked at each other. The noises came from Anakin's room.

 **Guess what happened? (teehee) :P**

 **AHHHHHH FORCE AWAKENS IS COMING OUT TOMORROW! BUT I HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL! D:**

 **My friend and I: *wails* NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**

 **Classmates: ?**


	21. Chapter 21

Ezra instantly knew how to navigate the vents when he turned the corner. He figured out from experience that vents roughly followed the same structure as the ground floor below, so in order to get back (secretly) to his quarters, he would have to blind-walk in the vents. But on the bright side, he wouldn't be bossed around by the droid, so...

His forehead was still slightly throbbing, but it wasn't that serious. So he continued navigating the dim, twisting passages.

Since his quarters was on the other wing of the Temple, he would have to cross the south wing back to his quarters. Then that meant he would have to crawl all the way from the series of classrooms, first set of Jedi General and Commander dormitories back to his wing.

At first, it seemed like a easy job. But it wasn't. He had to suffer the traumatic stress of crawling over vents, that looked rather flimsy and would fall at any second. Plus, they had slits on them, so he could see the ground below. He prayed hard that the working Padawans below wouldn't notice his face on the ceiling. Then that would be a real problem. The last thing on his bucket list would be being 'apprehended' by Kanan from the ceiling in the middle of a politics class with fifty Padawans in the room.

Therefore with care and agility, he crept over vents and tried to avoid stepping on them in case one decided to drop down in the last second.

But he encountered a problem at a cross-road like thing. He was very sure that he remembered correctly which turn he should make, however it seemed like his memory was lagging. Finally remembering that he should make a left turn to proceed, he tried to crawl forwards, but his feet took a wrong step and accidentally made contact with the vent behind him.

Unfortunately, the vent was a flimsy one.

So it fell down with a clutter, bringing Ezra down as well and falling on something that was squishy. The next thing he knew, was that he fell on someone.

* * *

A silent agreement passed through Ahsoka and Obi-wan's mind and they promptly dashed to inspect Anakin's room.

' ARGGGGH!' There was yet another painful bellow followed by a stream of words (that wasn't, uh, nice) shouted in Huttese.

The door panel slid open and to their amusement and slight surprise... Anakin was firmly sandwiched between the mattress and Ezra, with only his four limbs poking out like a turtle from under a shell. Ezra and Anakin groaned at the same time. But it appeared that Ezra was the first one to recover. It didn't take him long to realise where he had landed and he promptly scooted off the bed until he lay on the floor, looking both horrified and mortified at the same time.

Ahsoka went over to help Ezra, while Obi-wan tried his best to, um, make his former Padawan resurface from the mattress. He was deeply squashed into the mattress like a carbonite statue and the entire thing was sagging under all the weight. Finally, Obi-wan succeeded in helping Anakin out of the bed and the man didn't look pleased. At all.

Ezra was terrified to death at the thought of angering Ahsoka's former Master, because from all the random news on the Holo channel he had watched from spare time the last few days, he knew that the man was one of the best Jedi to ever walk upon the Order.

' Kid, how did you end up on top of me?' He scowled deeply. ' I feel like a sandwich!'

Ezra explained about the entire vent crawling thing to escape from Kanan, his face burning as he spoke about the chair-flying accident. Though he didn't mention the origin of the idea.

All the displeasure from Anakin's eyes vanished immediately, and it turned into a wide grin. ' _You crawled out of the medbay via the vent?_ Good for you, kid! It seems like the tradition of vent-escaping hasn't vanished at all,' he said, satisfied.

Ezra thought, _what_.

' I was right!' Obi-wan announced, half-triumphant. ' I knew it! When that Kanan boy was out shouting for the escaped Padawan, I knew that he must have escaped into the vent system!'

Ezra said, ' Oh no. Kanan is looking for me! Wait. How do you know about the vent system? What tradition?

' Oh!' Obi-wan huffed, glaring at Anakin. ' When this boy was a kid, he would always escape from the Halls of Healing through the vent system and hide under his fighter for the entire day until I come to drag him away _with force.'_

' And don't forget to mention, Ahsoka does that too!' Anakin finished. ' Remember all the times when she disappears from medbay-'

' And into my room too. I totally remember the time when Ahsoka fell directly with her feet stomping on my poor pot of tea,' Obi-wan shook his head. ' Like Master, like Padawan. _Both are kids that will never grow up._ '

' HEY!' They protested.

' You guys crawl in the vent too?' Ezra asked incredulously.

' Uh huh,' Ahsoka nodded. ' Though how did you fall on top of Anakin? You should be able to avoid all the vent covers. It's a, let's say, a rare occurrence. I have never fallen from the vent by accident.'

' What? You purposely fell on top of my limited-edition tea pot?!' Obi-wan cried out loud.

' Technically, I didn't see your teapot from my point of view! It was kind of an accident casualty,' Ahsoka defended. ' Anyways... How did you fall down?'

' Oh,' Ezra scratched his head, embarrassed. ' I did try to, but it was too dark and I took a wrong step. I didn't intend to fall on you, Master Skywalker.'

' Blast,' Ahsoka sighed. ' I should have told you the other trick when I had the chance before you were locked in. Remember to light your lightsaber in the vents. It'll help you see in the dark.'

Obi-wan grinned, ' Oho! So you taught him the vent trick!'

' Yes I did,' Ahsoka shrugged. ' What's the problem? He can treat himself if he wants to. Look, he has his ointment with him.'

' Though, kid, your Master won't be happy,' Anakin said thoughtfully. ' I think you had better hide somewhere... And show up when he cools down enough.'

' Point taken,' Ezra nodded and ran out of the room.

 **Thanks for reading :3**


	22. Chapter 22

**Hello there! Just to let you guys know, I will be out of town for the Christmas holidays until Saturday, so I probably will not be able to update (hope you guys understand). So this will be an exceptionally long chapter to compensate for the small hiatus and yes, I rarely write over 2000 words . So here it is :)**

Ezra knew it wasn't a very good idea to rush out of Ahsoka and Anakin's quarters without a cover.

He had run out into the open for barely a minute, when he was already discovered by Kanan, who looked undeniably murderous and was rounding the corner towards him. _Praise myself for my awesome escaping skills,_ Ezra groaned to himself in his mind, and started to back away. He could feel the mounting anger via their bond.

' EZRA BRIDGER! COME BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!'

He panicked at the threat Kanan was throwing towards him, then barely escaping from Kanan's outstretched hand, he made way for the Temple exit in full speed. He probably bumped into at least a dozen Padawan-Master teams and even a small group of astromech droids, but he didn't really care because all he cared was getting out of the Temple and out of Kanan's wrath.

Once he leapt past the Temple doorways, he auto-piloted towards the first place in his mind that wasn't the Jedi Temple. The clone barracks that Ahsoka had once told him about.

' _You know what, the clone barracks are the best hide-out places in the entire Coruscant. It is near the Temple too,'_ She had jokingly said.

 _Perfect,_ Ezra grinned. But he had to be quick. Because he could sense Kanan approaching the exit, probably his anger rising a few more notches. Finally making up his mind to dash all the way to the barracks, he made a sharp turn towards the right, not before looking back to see Kanan just arriving at the exit.

It didn't take Kanan long to realise where Ezra was heading towards and it mortified him. Though he might have slightly reconciled his relationship with clones after Ahsoka's discussion session, that didn't mean that he wanted to appear in the middle of a barrack filled with _clones_. He wasn't ready yet.

Taking good advantage of Kanan's stupor, Ezra turned around the corner and all the way to the barracks. He had no idea what the structure looked like, and it was mostly based on his luck. Later, he found himself skidding to a stop in the middle of a shiny grey corridor, with doors on all sides. Occasionally, a couple troopers walked past, but they didn't look familiar at all. A trooper in a green armour gave him a strange look as he walked past.

Panicking, he could sense that Kanan was approaching and there were no visible vents to hide in this time. Luckily, one of the doors slid open and revealed Rex. ' Hey aren't you that Ezra boy? What are you doing here?' He asked.

' NO TIME TO EXPLAIN,' Ezra interjected, waving his hands wildly. ' Gotta hide! I am chased.'

Rex shrugged and ushered Rex into the dorm room, then closed the door behind. The room held a lot of bunks and a set of lockers in each section, probably for storing blasters and armour. At the far side was a small pantry like corner and a large shared bathroom.

There were only a couple men left in the dorms, because they had no activity, watching HoloTV shows in one big group. Fives looked up from the holopad and waved at Ezra, ' Hiya kid. What are you doing here?'

Ezra's heart dropped to the bottom of his stomach at the sight of Fives. _Oh poor Fives._

' Yeah, care to explain why you are here at the barracks? Who is chasing you?' Rex asked.

Ezra blabbered out the entire story in 30 seconds and all the men present in the room understood immediately. ' It will be very hard to harbour you here,' Tup wondered out loud. ' Especially the Jedi have those ultrasonic sensors of where people are.'

' That's the Force, dummy. Not an ultrasonic sensor,' Rex rolled his eyes. ' Indeed it will be difficult, but kid, do you know how to shield your presence from other people?'

' Probably, but I am not that good with it,' Ezra confessed.

' You will have to try, because-' The door bell rang. ' Your Master is here.'

Kix swiftly shoved Ezra into the giant bathroom, ' Stay in here. Do your best to shield your presence, and oh, keep to the walls if you can't. Because even the Force has limits, he may be fooled to think that you are hiding next doors.' And the door closed in Ezra's face. He leaned towards the door to listen.

There was a whoosh that indicated the door panel sliding open, and in came Kanan's voice, ' Excuse me. But I am looking for my Padawan.'

' What Padawan?' Fives voice could be heard, bellowing over the noise of the whatever TV drama the men were watching.

' I'm not stupid. You have seen him. Dark-haired boy in that orange jumpsuit. Does that sound familiar?' Kanan said sharply.

Rex coughed, ' Indeed that is familiar. But I can assure you I haven't seen him since you pulled him away from our little group. Oh and by the way, is he well?'

' Fine. But have any of your men seen him?'

' Oh no, sir. We have been staying in here watching this HoloTV show since 8. Gotta cherish those times when we don't have missions,' Jesse shouted.

' _Oh really_? But I can sense him around this area. And I watched him run into the barracks. Then where is he?' Kanan's words had a sarcastic edge to it.

' Sir, allow me to remind you that the 501st isn't the only legion or dormitory in the barrack. There are many more, such as 212th next door. I suggest that you go around and ask them all.'

' WHAT? Ask them all? What if he runs away during that large period of time?'

' Better safe than sorry, sir,' Rex said calmly.

Then the next second, the door closed in Rex's face.

Ezra climbed out of the bathroom, ' Am I safe?'

' For now,' Kix switched off the holoTV. ' But I think that your forehead needs help. Do you need something for it?'

' I have this ointment,' Ezra raised his tube of medicine up for Kix to see.

He wrinkled his nose, ' That type of ointment doesn't really work. I suggest that you use this.' He turned around to rummage in a massive medical kit on his bunk.

' Kix is a medic, and he has the biggest bag of medical supplies we have ever seen,' Tup explained. ' I think he can open a mini medicine exhibition when he has time.'

' Not funny, Tup,' Kix scowled, and produced a giant tube of bluish paste. ' Sit down here, kid. I'll treat to your wounds.'

* * *

Ahsoka thought Anakin was kidding when he suggested to go to the Senate building.

' Why not? Padme would like to see you,' Anakin said.

' Alright. I'd love to see her too. I haven't see her since the trial,' she shuddered at the thought of the senate court chamber. Till then, it still brought chills to her whenever she thought of how close she was to execution.

' Great. The senate will hold a meeting from noon to 3. I did tell Padme in advance that we will arrive at 2, but on second thoughts, let's go at noon.'

' Wait, what?'

' Sure, why not?'

' Whatever you say, Anakin,' Ahsoka sighed. ' So are we going out now?'

In a couple minutes, they were on a speeder ride to the Senate building. Ahsoka could see that Anakin still loved his fancy flying (which Obi-wan highly disapproved of).

' _Anakin! You are flying a speeder on Coruscant! Not pod-racing! If you want to pod-race, go somewhere and find a plane without your Padawan and I! So stop all your, um, fancy flying unless you want your five hundred and forty fifth speeding ticket!'_ Obi-wan had chastised him after one disastrous flight from the Senate building back to the Jedi Temple after a meeting with the Chancellor. Ahsoka had giggled all the way back to home at the back-seat. And yes. Anakin did get his five hundred and forty fifth speeding ticket, which ticked Obi-wan off.

After parking the speeder at a nearby parking area, the pair made their way into the Senate building. It was still around 11 o clock, but most senators have arrived and were chatting with one another outside the Senate Chamber.

' Padme is not here yet,' Anakin looked around, disappointment evident in his tone.

' She will be,' Ahsoka patted him. ' Relax.' They just stood there and waited.

' Ahsoka! Is that you?' A certain Pantoran Senator rushed towards Ahsoka. It was Riyo Chuchi.

The girls squealed and hugged each other. ' Goodness, you've grown so much!' Riyo pulled apart and stared at Ahsoka in awe.

' You have too,' Ahsoka joked. ' You are definitely giving me the sophisticated senator vibe.'

' Oh stop it,' Riyo waved off. ' But really! I haven't seen you since you... Um, quitted the Order! How is life outside the Order? I hope you are doing well?'

' Quite good, I guess,' Ahsoka answered, and mentally thought _minus the Galactic Empire, perhaps._

 _'_ That's good to hear,' Riyo smiled. ' Who are you looking for by the way?'

' Senator Amidala. Have you seen her?'

' Oh, she has entered the Chamber already. If you want to find her, you will have to wait until the end of this meeting. I'd love to stick around to chat longer, but I must go prepare for the senate meeting. So... Hope I can see you soon!' And she left.

The next senator friend that Ahsoka knew appeared after a couple minutes. Lux!

' Lux! Over here!' Ahsoka called happily, and the two embraced.

' You have grown so much!' Lux confessed.

' Nah, not really. You-' Ahsoka was about to make one of her signature snippy retorts, when Anakin towered over them, looking positively murderous.

' What is going on over here?' He said dangerously and glared daggers at Lux. If looks could kill, Lux would be dead on the spot in just a millisecond. No, less than a millisecond.

Ahsoka hid her annoyance and spoke sweetly, ' Why yes, Anakin. I'd like you to meet Lux Bonteri. Lux, this is Anakin Skywalker of the Jedi Order. My old Master.'

' I've heard so much about you, Master Skywalker,' Lux said earnestly.

' Indeed?' Anakin gave Lux a scathing look, the exact look one would give to a beetle of some sort. Or something even smaller, probably a flea.

Ahsoka scented danger in the air, knowing that Anakin was being all 'protective' again. She remembered the last time at a senatorial ball when a random senator flirted at her, it didn't go so well. Anakin had pulled him away to confront him. Later, he was flexing his muscles, ready to kick the poor senator out of the window or at least wanted to call the 501st to arrest him, and things would have been pretty ugly if Obi-wan and Padme hadn't interfered with their remarkable negotiating skills. All that fuss and trouble just because some boy talked to her.

' Um um um,' Ahsoka waved a hand in front of Lux and Anakin. ' The meeting is about to start! I think you had better start preparing for the Senate meeting, Lux! See you later!' She pushed Lux (who was totally puzzled) out of Anakin's way.

' WHO IS THAT?' Anakin demanded after Lux walked away, looking slightly disoriented.

' Lux Bonteri! I told you that,' Ahsoka sighed. ' Look, he is just a friend, okay? You don't need to pulverise him like that senator at the ball last time. He didn't even flirt.'

' I have never heard of him,' Anakin narrowed his eyes. ' Who is he? Where is he from? What does he want? How did you know him? Why is he here?'

Ahsoka rubbed her aching temples, ' Look, you don't need to go through the interrogations with me. Can we stop discussing about Lux? The meeting is going to start. If we don't go now, we can't get a good seat to witness the meeting.'

Anakin tried to protest, but Ahsoka pulled him away forcefully.

 **Tada! Christmas is coming! Whee! :)))**

 **The sad thing is I still can't watch Force Awakens, because I have to wait for my dad. He was a bit miffed last time when I watched the MockingJay without him so I'll have to wait. :O**

 ***fingers crossed there won't be Jar Jar Binks in the movie***

 **By the way have you heard the KPop song Lightsaber by EXO? Don't get me wrong, the song is totally cool and it is one of my favourite KPop songs, but I can't help but feel just a little miffed when I was talking about lightsabers with my Star Wars buddies, and my classmates were like, ' Oh, you mean the song?' And they were shocked when I told them the song was based on Star Wars.**

 **Do you guys have an idea on what you want for Christmas? I'd totally want an R2D2 keychain or a lightsaber keychain (if they exist) to hang on my pencil bag. That'd be cool. :D**


	23. Chapter 23

**Look who's back? :DD**

Back when Ahsoka was still a teen, she didn't really like watching Senate meetings. To her, it was completely boring compared to fighting on the battlefield, where at least she could get some kind of 'entertainment' from cutting down those Separatist droids.

The funniest thing was that Anakin disliked those meetings as much as she did. But somehow he would always drag Ahsoka to some of them and fell asleep halfway through the endless debates. Ahsoka had the courtesy not to doze off, but she would entertain herself by daydreaming, and both of them would only come back to reality whenever it was Padme's turn to talk.

Padme wasn't like the other senators, who droned on and on and on endlessly about bills and bills and bills. She really meant her words when she spoke them, passionately voicing out her opinions for the wellbeing of the citizens. That was probably the reason why her words always lifted the spirits of the listeners.

Now...

Anakin and her managed to find a good spot to overlook the entire Senate chambers. But Anakin had effectively fallen asleep in just half a minute after Mas Amedda announced for the meeting to start. Ahsoka peered over the railing of the balcony and found herself looking at Chancellor Palpatine.

 _Or more like Emperor Palpatine,_ she clenched her fist and gritted her teeth.

That man down there was the reason for the destruction of the Republic and the deaths of her Jedi friends. More importantly, the existence of Vader. Her hands itched to whip out her lightsabers and kill him on the spot in order to rid the world of this nuisance, but that would require a lot of explanation. And possibly a lifetime stay in the Coruscant prison with Fox as her warden.

So in order to prevent her blood from boiling, she avoided looking at the centre of the chamber and focused on the first speaker. A random senator that she couldn't recognise was rambling about providing the largest sum of money to the Republic weapons factory in order to destroy the Separatist army.

After five minutes into the meeting, Ahsoka realised that... She wasn't bored. Not that it was interesting, but at least she didn't feel the need to doze off like Anakin. Over her 15 or so years of posing as Fulcrum, the top rebel informant, she had been to countless joint meetings with various rebel cells that required her full attention for 12 hours straight. And discussing about how to intrude the Empire's premises through secret passages weren't the most interesting topics after all.

Therefore, the 3-hour Senate meeting was almost like a blink of an eye to her.

Shortly after the senator's pod withdrew from the centre of the chambers, Senator Amidala drove her pod to the centre and started to argue against the previous proposal. As usual, she was in one of her Senate gowns and her hair was swept into an elegant updo.

Upon listening to Padme's voice, Anakin jerked awake. ' Good morning,' Ahsoka said humorously. ' You fell asleep again?'

Anakin humphed, ' Huh! You are as bored as I am, so you are one to talk.'

' I am not bored. In fact, this meeting is kind of interesting compared to the others I have ever had,' She mumbled truthfully.

Anakin said, shocked, ' _Interesting?_ Who are you and what have you done to the original Ahsoka?'

' Calm down.'

' _Compared to others?_ Have you been to many meetings like...' Anakin panicked. ' Oh Force. Don't tell me you became a Senator of Shili in the future!'

Ahsoka snorted and imagined herself in one of Padme's dresses. She would look ridiculous.

' Come on, Ahsoka. Answer me! You don't happen to be a Senator in the future?' Anakin was ready to faint.

' No. I happen to be interested in many things, but public speaking or politics still isn't my cup of tea. So no, I am not, cannot and will not be a Senator. Never in a million years,' Ahsoka chortled. ' Now stop talking and listen to Senator Amidala.'

' That's good to know,' Anakin huffed and settled down to listen to the rest of Padme's speech.

* * *

Ezra had a wonderful time hiding out in the 501st dorm room.

Tup brought him their stash of snacks and Appo switched on a nice Holo movie for everyone while Kix tended to his forehead with his salve. It worked wonders because the throbbing on his head faded to a nice cool sensation.

The 501st men had already recognised him as their VIP. Or more like, _VIJ_ (Very Important Jedi), along with Ahsoka and Anakin.

Hawk suggested for a good lookout to see where Kanan was up to. Kix asked Jesse to take the job, but he immediately glared at Rex (who whistled innocently), ' Oh no! The last time I was chosen to be a lookout, I got hit by a sandwich when I came back to report!'

' There won't be a sandwich this time,' Fives promised.

' No. Never. Nay,' Jesse shook his head.

' Pwwwwwease?'

' End of discussion. NO.'

In the end, they appointed Coric to be the lookout.

After a while, he came back to report that Kanan was gone. But before he left the barracks, he broke into many dorms. Cody told Coric that he looked under all their beds. Gree said that Kanan even looked into their dusty heating vents. Bly reported that he rampaged through their pantry and seemed to think that Ezra was hiding inside the fridge. Wolffe pointed out that he woke up from his small nap to find Kanan prowling his bunk. Fox got pushed out of the way in the corridors. ' Or to summarise all of their words, they were quite annoyed,' Coric finished. ' But we are quite lucky that he didn't return to scour down our dorm room.'

' Rex is quite persuasive,' Echo commented happily.

Rex crossed his arms, ' Look, Ezra, you will have to return back to the Temple to your Master eventually, so you had better come up with something to say to your Master in case he ticks off again.'

Ezra pointed at his healing forehead, ' Hey. My injuries are treated. He is that angry just because he wants to treat my forehead wound. Don't worry, I'll just be extremely polite and apologise like a good kid.'

' Whatever you say, kid,' Rex sighed. ' I don't know why, but I am just wondering if it is mandatory for Jedi to hate staying in Halls of Healing.'

Fives shouted from the far side of the room, ' Come on, Rex. Who likes swimming in bacta tanks? It has this slimy, strange feeling. And this weird taste.'

' Wow. So... should I be thankful that the medical droid didn't stick me in this... uh... bacta tank thing?' Ezra questioned, imagining himself floating in a tank, unconscious. He'd look awful.

' You should,' Echo took a sip from his mug of tea. ' But bacta tanks are only for serious injuries so you are quite lucky.'

Appo looked sick, ' Guys... Can we please stop talking about bacta? I don't like bacta.'

 **Whoop whoop I'm back! :D** **A belated Merry Christmas to you all, since I didn't have the chance to say so.**

 **I had a nice time in Tokyo, there were a lot of Star Wars merchandise and I bought A LOT (but I still haven't watched Force Awakens... yet...) of stuff. I had to stop myself from buying this life-sized R2D2 (IT HAS 1000 PROGRAMMINGS AND CAN MOVE). However, there are not so many Clone Wars or Star Wars Rebels merchandise. :(**

 **Anyways, thanks for reading! :D**

 **Anyways... Thanks so much for reading! :)**


	24. Chapter 24

A couple hours later (meaning after 3 consecutive episodes of a show and 5 bowls of popcorn), Ezra decided that it was time to leave the 501's nice cosy hideout and hospitality and to embrace whatever fate the Force had in mind for him (*cough* Kanan *cough*) to encounter. But before he left, Kix stuffed the tube of paste into Ezra's hand and winked at him, ' You'll need it.'

So he marched all the way back to his quarters from the barracks without any interruption or bumping into any stray searching teams, and found himself standing outside the closed door, trying to decide on a way to enter. After several seconds of quick thinking, he vetoed any fancy entrance methods and went for a simple walk-in.

' Hello!' He chirped cheerfully and tossed his tube of ointment onto the dining table.

Almost immediately, a hand seized the back of his tunic and Kanan yelled, ' WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?'

' Oh, doing stuff?' Ezra grinned, totally unfazed by Kanan's furious glare.

' I expect a full explanation from you, young man!' Kanan jabbed at Ezra. ' Oh, how I hunted for you! I looked everywhere in the Halls of Healing! I even tried looking for you in Ahsoka's quarters! Oh so now you are telling me I spent my entire day racing through the barracks for nothing?'

Ezra nearly snorted out loud. The fact that Kanan called him _young man_ amused him deeply.

' Look, I am fine,' He pointed at his forehead proudly. ' The clone medics are better than that fussy medical droid. Their medicine works well, they are nice and most importantly, they don't _confine_ you to a single space. They even kindly gave me extra ointment for it, so relax.'

' _Oh!'_ Kanan scoffed indignantly. ' I will be the one to confine you to a single space not that droid. You are _grounded_! And in case you don't know what grounded is, it is-'

Ezra made an impatient noise. Of course he knew what 'grounded' was. Most would expect that he had never heard of the word or experienced it since he lived on the streets with parents, but they probably didn't know that all the years Ezra spent as a street kid, he had heard countless kids groaning and moaning about 'being grounded' by their parents. So it was rather familiar to him.

' You can't ground me!' He pointed out guilelessly. ' It would be a total waste of the one precious week. Surely you don't want to waste that on _grounding_ me, do you? We need to _relax_ before going back to the mess of a time we are supposed to live in.'

Kanan sniffed, ' Fine. But when we get back, I'll make sure you get grounded for a week on Ghost with Chopper monitoring you.'

' Um, you can't do that. What if that Sith lord shows up again and tries to challenge you to a duel? You still need someone to watch your back. I can't do that or answer your calls for help if I am stuck in my own room. I don't think Hera, Sabine or Zeb will forgive me if I don't help you.'

' ARGH!'

' Drop that idea, Kanan. We are in no position for you to ground me.'

* * *

' In conclusion, 10,000,000 credits will be allocated to the factory. So this concludes our meeting today. Senators are dismissed.' The Senators' pods floated back to original space and they began to disembark.

' Skyguy! Wake up!' Ahsoka poked Anakin.

' What what what?' Anakin mumbled blearily.

' It is the end of the meeting! Come on quick if you want to go find Senator Amidala!' Ahsoka said. ' Oh, please. Wake up!'

Anakin perked up almost immediately, and raced off to follow the trail of leaving senators.

Thank goodness it didn't take them long to spot Padme, because she was standing at a fixed point, anxiously waiting for them to show up as well.

' An-Senator Amidala!' Anakin quickly corrected himself, not wanting to publicly show his affection to his wife in front of Ahsoka or any other people. ' Good to see you again!'

But Padme made no attempt to answer Anakin, because she was so focused on grabbing Ahsoka from behind him and she squealed all at once, ' Oh goodness Ahsoka! I haven't seen you for so long! Oh my! You've grown so much! I've missed you so much!' And she pulled her into a bone-crushing hug (even Ahsoka didn't know she had such strength until then).

' Me too,' Ahsoka tried to speak over Padme's shoulder. ' It's been too long.' She hadn't expected to see Padme ever again. She had been so depressed enough after receiving notice of Order 66, and it made her even more depressed when she knew of the Senator's untimely death on the Holonews. It was almost as if she wasn't depressed enough.

' What's with the growth spurt though?' Padme wondered out loud. ' You have just been gone for a year!'

' It's a long story,' Ahsoka shrugged, deciding not to confuse her.

' Oh whatever! It's simply too amazing to see you again!'

Apparently at the same time, Anakin was distinctly annoyed at being ignored, ' Hey! I'm exist too, just so you know.'

' Of course, you exist, Ani,' Padme waved off. ' But it isn't everyday you get to see Ahsoka again! Anyways, let's get back to my apartment first.'

Ahsoka spent the entire afternoon and evening at Padme's apartment. They talked and had dinner together. Of course Anakin and Ahsoka simultaneously didn't want to mention the entire future-travel thing, so they just stuck to the story that Ahsoka was briefly visiting.

It was only halfway into their meal when Ahsoka began to realise something that she had never actually given thought to when she was still a Padawan.

Anakin and Padme's relationship.

As a growing teen, she wasn't that good at reading people or at least she didn't bother to due to the many wars. She simply assumed that they were the best of friends.

But reading people was an essential survival skill. Working as Fulcrum, she had loads of experiences with that, mostly for detecting Empire spies and whether the intel she was given was accurate. Now when she looked at it, she couldn't understand why she didn't notice that in the first place. It was so obvious that it was silly for anyone not to see.

The way they addressed each other.

The way they looked at each other.

Their body movements.

Also, Anakin used to disappear at night in irregular intervals.

She made a silent note to ask Anakin later, whether he liked it or not.

That could only mean one thing!

 **It looks like someone's secret got revealed! :D**

 **Woohoo I reached 200 reviews! Thanks must be given to you guys, who always give me their opinions and support! :))))**

 **Okay, so thanks again for reading! :P**


	25. Chapter 25

**Long chapter ahead... Because this is the second last chapter! :)**

Ahsoka didn't speak for the whole time they walked back to the parked speeder. It was until they soared into night sky of Coruscant, she decided to bring up what she had been itching to say to Anakin the whole time through dessert and drinks.

' So,' She said nonchalantly. ' Isn't it good to see your _wife_ after such a long time?'

' Yeah,' Anakin replied, too busy navigating the speeder and not noticing the real catch in Ahsoka's words even though she emphasised the word. ' I haven't seen her for a long time already, so it is good.'

 _Oh, Skyguy._ _Always not that observant._

She decided to stick to the game, ' Seriously, you should visit your wife more often. Give her a nice bouquet of flowers or some gift like how a husband should.'

' You know what, Snips, it is a nice idea, maybe I should someday- Aaaah!' There. Finally.

Ahsoka heaved a sigh, ' Yes. _Your wife._ '

' H-h-h-h-h-h-how do you know?' Anakin spluttered in shock, to the point that he completely forgot about his fancy flying routines.

Ahsoka humphed and crossed her arms over her chest, ' Huh! I am supposed to be the one asking questions, not you, excuse me. So-'

' Tell me how you knew first.'

' Fine. Just by observation, you know! Like, the way you look at each other, the way you call each other and you act like a weirdo next to her!' Ahsoka explained all at once. ' Plus, now I piece everything together, I can finally find an explanation for why you disappeared in some nights! Oh, the other time... I knew it! I knew there was something dodgy after that Cato Neimoidia mission with Padme and that Rush Clovis guy! Whenever I brought up that dude, you look like you want to kill someone. Is that enough?'

' Was it that obvious?' Anakin winced.

' YES. Now spill,' Ahsoka commanded. ' When did you guys get married?'

' Just before the Clone Wars started,' Anakin answered.

' Great. So you were already married when you first met me,' she harrumphed. ' So who knows about this, uh, entire marriage thing?'

' Not many people, I guess. A couple of Padme's most trusted handmaidens. Oh and R2 and C3PO, if you count them. They were the witnesses.'

' Great. R2 and 3PO were also involved.'

She must have sounded a bit angry (blame her very good acting skills) because Anakin panicked, ' You aren't angry with me, are you? Sorry, Snips, I can't tell anyone, or else-'

' Angry?' Ahsoka grinned toothily. ' Of course I am just fooling with you! That's wonderful news, in fact. You two are perfect for each other.'

' What? You are not angry?'

' Of course not, Anakin. I mean it.'

' Thanks. Um... Can you please try to keep it a secret? The Council or Obi-wan must not know that, because that is a serious breach in the Jedi code?'

' Of course I won't! Your secret is safe with me,' Ahsoka said. ' EYES ON THE ROAD!' She jabbed a button just in time for them to lurch away from a giant cargo ship.

That quote originally belonged to Obi-wan, for he would always scream 'EYES ON THE ROAD' in every five minutes. Ahsoka thought that she should probably adopt that quote.

' Huh. I didn't know that you are so good at observing people, Snips.'

' EYES ON THE ROAD!'

* * *

The very next morning, just after a quick breakfast with Kanan (who was still slightly annoyed), Ezra found young Caleb outside his quarters.

' Um, can I come in?' He said timidly.

' Sure,' Ezra said, quite surprised at the quiet attitude displayed by Caleb. ' Please come in.'

Kanan had retreated into the kitchen to wash the dishes by the time Ezra showed Caleb into the sitting room. Caleb clasped his hands and bowed his head, ' Ezra, I'm so sorry about yesterday. I was just trying to demonstrate the hyperbolic nature of the world of literature, and I didn't mean for you to get thrown against the wall.' Ezra automatically winced at his words, and his forehead tingled just a little bit.

' Don't worry about it, I'm okay! The clone medic gave me some really good ointment for my forehead, so it doesn't really hurt now,' Ezra waved him off lightly.

' Really? But Bigger-me said your head wound was quite serious,' Caleb said, flabbergasted.

' I'm fine! Really! I swear!' Ezra sighed.

' That's good, then. My Master is really worried too,' Caleb added. ' I can tell her that you are okay.'

' I hope Master Billaba isn't going too hard on you,' Ezra said anxiously. ' Did she punish you or say anything to you after Master Palmer told her about it?'

' Yeah, no lightsaber classes for two weeks,' Caleb said gloomily. ' That's a pretty bad punishment for me already. What am I going to do in these two weeks without lightsaber classes? Oh the horror.'

' It won't be too bad,' Ezra tried to say.

' My life will be boring!' Caleb waved his hands around to indicate his horror. ' What's the point in being a Jedi if you can't have lightsaber classes? By the way... I heard Older-me saying to my Master that you escaped into the vent system yesterday. I was wondering... If you could show me the way? I've always wanted to explore the Temple, but I don't know how to.'

' Sure!'

* * *

A week.

How swiftly a week passed by.

Ezra hadn't really thought about it until the night before their supposed-return-back-to-the-present-time. It saddened him. Just merely a couple more hours, and they would need to return back to the messed up Empire timeline.

The last few days had been the best few days in his life. He had a lot of fun with Kanan, young Caleb, Ahsoka, Anakin, Obi-wan and the 501st men. Most important of all, Kanan learnt not to blame the clones and even proceeded to have small, polite chats with Captain Rex. It wasn't much, but it was definitely one major step to improvement. Ezra also made sure Caleb knew how to navigate the vent systems.

Deciding to stop reminiscing and go to sleep, he plopped into his bed and closed his eyes. Suddenly, the same brilliant flash filled up the room, notifying Ezra of the Daughter's presence.

' Ezra Bridger,' the Force-wielder greeted.

' Daughter,' Ezra sat up. ' I know who you are now, but... Ahsoka told me she has met you before. You... were supposed to be dead.'

' I am not really dead, actually. My body, meaning my anchor to this mortal world may be gone, but I still exist within the Force. My powers and presence are not gone yet, but I can only appear as a ghostly apparition to Force-sensitives. Let's say, I am now what you Jedi call a Force ghost,' She explained lightly.

' Um okay... But... Why are you here?' Ezra added after a moment of awkward hesitation in order to sound more polite. ' My lady.'

' To give you the instructions of how to return to your original timeline. It is a fragile transfer, so you must be careful, or else you can lose yourself into the Force. I want you three to step outside and stand on the stairs of the Temple at 9 o' clock sharp. In a couple moments, I'll arrange for you to be transferred back into the future,' She said. ' You may realise that I have extended the time period, because I think you may want to say your goodbyes.'

He said uncertainly, ' Thank you, my Lady. But... Can I ask you a question?'

' Ask away, young one.'

' Will any of the people in this timeline remember this trip or us? Last time Kanan's younger self used the Force to fling me to the wall, but when I asked Kanan about it, he could only vaguely remember that he did accidentally fling someone to the wall, but couldn't remember exactly who it was,' Ezra asked.

The Daughter said, ' Ah, I see. As I have said, it is a fragile transfer. I know you didn't reveal anything by accident or do anything that would cause a massive ripple in the Force, but in order to prevent a butterfly effect, the Force will automatically try to restore the equilibrium. In order to achieve that, the Force will alter the involved people's memories.'

' Alter?' Ezra repeated in horror. ' But Kanan... He could still remember a little bit of it-'

' Not exactly. Those memories are not completely deleted, they still exist somewhere in the person's mind. But they are placed into hibernation by the Force, and it cannot be easily activated, not that it is impossible though. Sometimes, the person may have a nagging feeling inside their head, but they won't think much of it.'

' Oh, okay,' Ezra nodded in understanding.

' That's all I can do for you, Ezra,' Daughter said with an encouraging smile. ' But do not feel angry or sad about the past. The meaning of this entire thing is to remind you that hope is never lost and one day, you can achieve it.' Then, she disappeared.

* * *

The very next morning, they huddled right next to the exit of the Temple to say the final farewells.

' Going so soon?' Caleb asked, sounding a bit sad. ' I'll miss you a lot, Older-me! And I'll miss you a lot too, Ezra. But I will see you in the future, I guess.'

' I'll miss you a lot too,' Ezra shook Caleb's hand. ' And I wish you all the best!'

Kanan did the same too, ' Listen here, Younger-me. Remember to be more responsible and-'

' That's all!' Ezra pushed Kanan away, and gave him a glare that said _stop being a spoilsport!_

Depa Billaba, who was standing next to Caleb nodded at Ezra, ' I hope that you two can continue working together. You guys make an excellent team.'

On the other side of the area, Ahsoka was talking to Anakin and Obi-wan. Anakin was busily giving Ahsoka his final tips.

' Now, Snips, I don't know for sure what will happen in the future. But I hope you can take good care of yourself,' Anakin ran a hand through his already-very-messy hair. ' Maybe we can cross paths again, if we are lucky. Oh and final tips to note, remember not to sign up to be a Senator!'

' Anakin-'

' And also, stay away from that Lux Bonteri dude. He looks kind of dangerous.'

' Anakin!' Obi-wan gasped, exasperated. ' Ahsoka is a grown-up woman! You cannot limit who she can or cannot hang out with. It simply doesn't work that way.'

' Yeah,' Ahsoka smirked (though she was really sad on the inside). ' Master Kenobi, do me a favour. Please keep an eye on Skyguy. He is one big kid.'

' Of course,' Obi-wan stroked his beard importantly, and earned himself a glare from Anakin.

' It's almost time,' Ezra called from the other side.

As the Daughter had instructed, the three of them stepped into the sunlight on the staircases. ' May the Force be with you all,' Obi-wan said.

The sunlight grew brighter, and with a brilliant flash, Ezra found themselves falling on top of each other again, but this time, they landed in the Ghost mess hall.

The noise probably woke the entire crew up, because in just a couple seconds, Sabine bounded into the room, ' What in the world is going on in here?!' And then she saw them lying in a pile.

' Are you people playing stacking?' Zeb appeared behind Sabine, and asked incredulously.

' It's a long story,' Kanan mumbled from below, embarrassed.

 **Helloooooooooo! :D**

 **YAAAAS! I can finally go to see Force Awakens this Friday! YAAAAY! What a perfect way to start the 2016 with a nice movie. :))))))**


	26. Epilogue

**FINAL CHAPTER!**

Throughout the years, more and more people started to see the truth behind the Empire's ways. More Rebel cells popped up like spring grass in the entire Galaxy, causing the Rebel Network to grow into a larger Rebel Alliance.

The Ghost Crew participated actively in the rebellion against the Empire, but they mostly worked on their own as one single cell to fight against the Empire. But occasionally, they would join up with the Alliance to work on any large-scale projects under Bail Organa or his daughter, Leia Organa. Under the guidance of Kanan, Ezra could fight with a lightsaber as well as any Jedi in the old Republic times.

Ahsoka still worked as Fulcrum, the Rebel informant. She mostly followed the main Rebellion around and would also fight if necessary (thanks to some blasters lesson from Rex). But sometimes, she would go on to find the Ghost crew to aid them on their plans. Somehow, she became pretty good friends with Leia, probably because the two shared a fiery attitude.

Some time after their trip to the past, Ezra and Kanan finally knew the real identity of Vader, because they crossed paths so many times. But fortunately, they managed to escape from the Sith Lord every time after a couple saber locks. Ezra was kind of devastated by the news, because he really liked the man. And Kanan on the other hand wondered out loud how Ahsoka managed to live with the news.

The next time Ezra saw Darth Vader after the terrible revelation of his true identity (aka used to be Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One, Hero With No Fear and The Man Squashed By Ezra From the Vent), he humorously locked sabers with Vader and looked truthfully at the Sith, ' Seriously, if you had been wearing this suit when I fell on top of you from the vent, I would have been flattened like a pancake. You used to feel so soft and squishy then. What happened?'

Let's say his comment greatly angered the Sith Lord. Cue the murderous mechanical breathing. Cue the screams.

Ahsoka said Ezra was lucky to escape in a piece (except for his charred hair) because Vader went berserk afterwards. Later, Kanan reckoned that Vader could remember vaguely about it, but couldn't recall what exactly happened.

And so the Rebellion continued for years, until a rising new hope called Luke Skywalker showed up. Ahsoka wasn't that surprised when he appeared, but Kanan and Ezra were shocked. The boy took after his father's strength and determination, and his mother's thirst for righteousness.

One fateful afternoon, when Ahsoka was still closely monitoring the rebel base, hoping to look for more information about the new Death Star, the news reached the rebels. Luke Skywalker managed to defeat both Vader and the Emperor. The others were going crazy when they heard the news and cheered for Vader and the Emperor's deaths. But Ahsoka knew better. She could sense Anakin's redeemed presence in the Force distinctly.

* * *

Celebrations went on for days.

The Ghost Crew found themselves standing amongst crowds upon crowds of people in the celebration of their hard-earned victory.

Once Chopper got off the ship, he immediately rattled like crazy and excitedly wheeled over to join R2D2 and C3PO at the corner.

' Finally, some peace and quiet,' Sabine grinned over a glass of juice.

' The threat is still here, the Empire is still not fully defeated, and-' Kanan was saying seriously.

' Oh please, Kanan. Stop being a spoilsport,' Ezra snorted. ' Just enjoy this moment of peace and quiet. It almost feels like the old days, doesn't it?'

' Talking about that entire _travel to the past_ thing again?' Zeb snorted, and he was already eating his fifth plate of noodles. ' Are you really sure it is not a dream?'

' If Kanan says it's true, then it's probably true,' Hera said. ' Speaking of which, Zeb... You had better not eat so much now. There's still a lot more food. Don't say I didn't warn you when you are too full to eat dessert.'

' Yes, Mother _,'_ Zeb groaned.

' And you, Ezra. Don't let me catch you drinking alcoholic stuff,' Kanan reprimanded.

' What? I'm an adult already!' Ezra cried.

' Are you sure I'm going to let you drink alcoholic stuff after the time you drank too much juma juice and vomited on the ship? It took ages to clean up,' Kanan looked at him pointedly.

' Yes, Father,' Ezra raised his hands as a sign of surrendering.

Sabine snickered, ' What's with all the Mother and Father today?' Hera and Kanan turned a violent shade of red.

' MOM! DAD!' Ezra and Zeb shouted and proceeded to hug them.

' Get off! Get off me!' Kanan fought to fend Ezra off. ' Ah!'

* * *

Ahsoka walked over to the droids huddled together at the corner of the festivity. She recognised Chopper, 3PO and R2.

R2 exploded in chirps and whistles at the sight of her, and allowed her to pat him. ' Hey there R2,' She greeted. ' Enjoying all the fun?'

' Who is that, R2?' 3PO said, confused. ' Do you know her?'

' What? You don't remember me?' Ahsoka stared at 3PO.

R2 bumped against 3PO and gave him a series of annoyed beeps.

' Mind-wiped?' 3PO repeated in shock. ' No way. They can't do that!'

' Ah, I see,' Ahsoka nodded in understanding. ' They must have done that to prevent any information to fall into the wrong hands. Anyways, R2, where is your master?'

R2 whistled.

' No? Never mind, I think I can sense him over there,' Ahsoka searched the Force and found herself looking at the dark corners of the party square.

* * *

Luke leant against a tree in the quietest area he could find with a glass of blue milk. He was trying to escape attention, because he was quite tired of people coming forward to congratulate him. Seriously, he couldn't walk a mile without anyone clapping him on the back to congratulate him or shaking his hand. One girl even asked for his signature.

Plus, he was really upset when some people said, ' Good for you! Darth Vader is dead at last!' He had seriously hoped that people would look upon his father and think of him as Anakin Skywalker the Chosen One and not Darth Vader. After seeing his father with Obi-wan and Yoda as Force-ghosts, he told himself that one day he would get people to see Anakin Skywalker as a hero.

' Hello, Luke Skywalker,' A voice to his left said and nearly scared him out of his wits. He hadn't expected someone to spot him.

' Er,' He jumped. It was a Togrutan woman, who looked kind of familiar. ' Yeah. You, er, know my name.'

' Come on. Who doesn't know the name of our little hero?' She smiled. ' By the way, I am Ahsoka Tano, but you may know me as Fulcrum.'

The name rang a bell. ' Oh... Fulcrum... You are that informant lady... That Leia talked about the other day,' Luke snapped his fingers while he retrieved his memory. ' Is that right?'

' Yes indeed.'

There was a polite pause. And Luke noticed the pair of lightsabers attached to Ahsoka's belt. ' Lightsabers,' He murmured and his eyes widened. ' You are a Jedi? I thought... All of them died in the purges, you know...'

' I was a Jedi, but I left the Order before the purges,' She corrected. ' Not all of them died, really. Kanan and Ezra over there practice the Force, but they didn't really receive full Jedi training.' She nodded over to the direction of the drinks table (non-alcoholic of course), where Ezra was scowling at Kanan over a cup of caff.

' Oh,' Luke said. In his heart, he was dying to ask Ahsoka whether she knew his father back in the Clone Wars times, but he thought that Ahsoka might be rather bitter towards his father for killing all the Jedi.

But what he didn't expect it when Ahsoka smiled at him, ' Your father was a great man, Luke.'

' You...' Luke almost choked in excitement. ' You knew my father?'

' Of course! I used to be his Padawan back then...' She said. ' Sure, he did make a couple wrong choices here and there, but he is still a good friend to me. And yes, I know your mother as well.'

' Would you mind telling me a bit about... My parents?'

' Sure! Your mother used to be a Senator of the Republic. She was a powerful woman, fearless of everything and she would speak out her opinion to the Senate no matter what. But outside Senate hours, she was a nice and gentle woman. She was almost like a sister to me,' She reminisced dreamily. ' As for your father... He unlike most other Jedi, was compassionate, confident, determined and strong. He wouldn't give up easily and was always willing to risk his life in order to save someone.'

' Wow,' Luke breathed.

' But actually... He is sometimes very annoying, over-protective and cocky,' She laughed. ' _He is just one big kid!'_

' HEY!' The Force-ghosts of Anakin and Obi-wan materialised next to them. Obi-wan was laughing his head off while Anakin looked kind of angry.

' Father! Ben!' Luke jumped.

' Why helloooooooo there, Skyguy!' Ahsoka smirked.

Anakin huffed, ' I actually liked your description, but I disagree with the last point! And then... I haven't even told you off for not telling me that I will end up in this giant mess! You could have done me a favour the last time you travelled to the past with that Kanan and Ezra boy.'

' I can't,' Ahsoka said, annoyed. ' And, don't you deny that you are one big kid.'

' BIG KID?' Anakin repeated incredulously, while Obi-wan awkwardly slid away to Luke's side. ' I am older than you now! In fact I'm a ghost!'

' Technically, you still look like you are 20. So I am older than you.'

' Are you challenging me, Snips? I'm a ghost! I can do anything! I... Can even haunt your house if I want to!'

' Go on then! I'll challenge you to a duel if you do.'

' You can't kill me! I am immortal.'

' Who says I can't kill you twice?'

' Me!'

Obi-wan and Luke simply stood aside, shaking with inward laughter at the sight of the arguing pair.

' Do they always argue like that, Ben?' Luke asked.

' All the time,' Obi-wan sighed dramatically, but that didn't hide his amusement. ' Actually... They are _both_ big kids.'

Luke smiled as a response.

 **SHOULD THERE BE A SEQUEL? :DDDDDDDDDDD Cuz I am thinking of doing one.**

 **Anyways... Thanks so much for reading Talk of the Past! I had so much fun writing all the characters and scenes... And thanks so much for all the kind reviews! :)))) I appreciate all of them.**


	27. Announcement! :D

**Happy New Year!**

 **Thanks for all the support! Yes, there will be a SEQUEL! :D It is titled Touch of the Future and here is the description below:**

 **Sequel to Talk of the Past! Luke Skywalker is starting a New Jedi Order, but he needs the help of Ezra, Kanan and Ahsoka in order to make his plan work. At the same time, they will meet up with someone from the past that they thought they will never have the chance to see again.**

 **Some brief introduction... It sets between Return of the Jedi and Force Awakens.**

 **I am not too familiar with the Expanded Universe (though I do know who Mara Jade, Revan, Satele Shan, Jaina Solo etc is) and I don't really have much information of what Luke did between all that. SPOILERS, but Leia said that Luke did try to train a New Jedi Order and that didn't go so well. Where exactly he trained them, what exactly happened, who exactly was involved, I don't know, so I may have to create some or make wild guesses, hope you can bear with that. :P**

 **Yeah, thanks again for all the kind reviews and suggestions! Feel free to go check out the first chapter! :)**

 **Happy Doodle**

 **PS Just went to see Force Awakens! XDDDDDDDDDD**


	28. Just a reminder

**Hi, this is Happy Doodle, sorry for being annoying or anything, but I feel like I need to mention that.**

 **Since some of you told me that you can't find the sequel (Touch of the Future), it is because I didn't put it in the Clone Wars or Star Wars Rebels or Star Wars archive. It is in the Star Wars and Star Wars Rebels Crossover.**

 **I would have placed it in the Star Wars section if I could (since it crosses so many timelines and it sounds more general), but when I tried to enter the characters for the basic info, I couldn't find the names of the Rebels characters on the Star Wars section list. Because I really want to include them, I have to do a crossover in order to include the character names.**

 **If you want to find it, just go into my story's list, and you'll see it. Thanks so much for your understanding! :)**


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